The Cure
by MadHatter5959
Summary: Davin, a marine in the Allience Navy, saves a Quarian scientist who has almost discovered a way to cure the Quarians weak imune systems for good. But outside forces want this research for themselves, and Davin finds himself in the middle of a huge conflict that could change everything. Is he up to the challenge?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Davin breathed in, tasting the dusty air and resisting the urge to cough. He breathed out and lifted his head, looking out from the rock he was using as cover to see if anyone was coming. No one so far. He ducked his head back behind cover, growing impatient, kneeling there until his legs started to ache.

"He's taking too damn long." One of his lieutenants, Adam, complained. They had been kneeling there for nearly an hour now, waiting for Han, their scout, to return. He was taking longer than usual, which means he met an obstacle.

"Nothing we can do, and your bitching isn't helping." Debra, a tall woman with a buzz cut replied. She had it worse than them, since her armor was much thicker and heavier than the rest. Adam grunted at her, his long, sweaty brown bangs getting in his eyes and making him hiss. It wouldn't have been as bad if it wasn't so damn hot on this planet. Davin looked back at them. "Shut up, both of you. You never know if an enemy is within earshot."

They both said, "Yes commander." though Adam looked like he wanted to reply. He was always a pain in the ass, but at least he can listen to a command. Davin opened up his omni-tool, the small see-through screen lighting up, to check if he had anything from Han, but he saw nothing. He was just about to go looking for him when they heard a sound behind them.

They all whipped around, aiming towards the sound, and relaxed as they saw Han walk towards them. He was a small man, only 5 feet and 4 inches, which made him perfect for scouting. The only reason they heard him was because he wanted them too. He was silent when he wanted to be, and almost impossible to see, earning him the nickname the Chameleon.

"Holy shit Han, I almost shot you." Adam said, standing up. The rest of them followed suit, stretching their legs as Davin walked up to meet Han. "Report, what did you find?" Davin asked.

Han smiled. "Exactly what we were looking for. The emergency Transmission came from what looks like a lab, except instead of scientists I saw a group of mercenaries there. Their armor identified them as the Blue Suns. Most of the scientists are dead, but I heard them yelling and beating someone, so some must still be alive."

Davin said "Good report, as always." and shook his head. The Blue Suns were a well known mercenary group, and were well trained. But what did they want with a science lab? "How many did you count?"

"About 20, maybe a few more inside." Han replied instantly. Davin nodded. He couldn't have asked for a better scout; Han always got results. "Alright Han, lead us there." Davin said, turning to the rest of his team and gesturing them to move out.

They soon realized what took Han so long; the terrain was terrible, making traveling it slow and hot. They had to move slower than Han did, so it took them about an hour to get to their destination. Han suddenly held his hand up, making them stop. "It's right behind this hill." Han said, pointing to the rock wall next to them. "There are two soldiers guarding the front entrance, and another on the roof. The rest are inside, looking for something it seemed like to me."

Davin nodded and turned to Jacob, his marksmen. "Jacob, find a clear vantage point and eliminate them. By the sound of it, the survivors won't last too much longer." Jacob nodded and started climbing up the hill. They waited for a few minutes, and then heard a whistling sound 3 times. Jacob descended from the hill and nodded at Davin, indicating they were taken care off.

"Alright team, I want a wedge formation. If you don't have a silencer, don't shoot until we get inside. I want to surprise them. Han ands Jacob will take care of any poor bastards who happen to wander outside. Let's go." He heard the whole team say "Yes Commander" And they went forward, Davin himself at the front of the wedge. The two guards at the entrance were now on the ground, half their heads missing. "Did they have shields at all?" Davin whispered to Jacob on his left. Jacob said simply "No.".

Right as they were almost there, the door opened and a merc walked out. He froze when he saw them, which was his mistake, as Han shot him in the head and the merc fell. They quickly closed the gap and Davin Knelt next to the merc, making sure he was dead. He turned to his team. "Alright, I want Deb and Levie up front. Adam and Erik, watch our rear. I want only them to be surprised, not us." Deb and Levie, the two females of the group, moved forward next to him, while Adam and Erik moved to the back, with Erik giving him a thumb up. Davin nodded and pressed his hand against the hologram circle on the front of the door, opening it with a quiet hiss. They all went inside, slowly and quietly.

The main hallway was empty, but Davin could hear them rummaging around and heard someone yelling. As they got to the end of then hallway he could make out what the person was saying.

"WHERE IS IT, YOU STUPID SUIT RAT?" Davin Heard no reply, then a thump which sounded like whoever was being interrogated just got hit, hard. Davin had only heard Quarians called suit rats. Davin peeked out the corner. The left hallway was empty, and the sound was coming from the right. He pointed at Bennie, his crazy explosive expert, and Han, gesturing them to go to the left and check it out. They nodded, and went left while the rest of them crept towards the right, staying low until they got beneath the window of the room where the yelling was coming from. He signaled for them to stop, and peeked through the window.

He saw 8 mercs inside, definitely wearing Blue Suns armor. They were grouped around 2 figures in the middle, laughing. The Quarian was in the ground. Judging by her body shape, she was a female. The merc standing above her was still yelling, kicking and stomping on her. Davin felt a flicker of anger. He couldn't stand any man who beat a woman. He pulled out a flash grenade and signaled his team to fire on his go. He got up as Debra broke the window, throwing the flash grenade inside. They all ducked and heard a loud bang, followed by screaming and groaning. He roared, leaping up and firing his assault rifle while his team followed suit. They mowed down the blind and deaf mercs easily, seeing blood spray the walls. He held up his hand, and they all ceased fire. He leapt over the window, keeping his rifle raised just in case. Sure enough, the Quarian survived, but so did the merc who was beating her, and he quickly grabbed her and pulled her in front of him, putting a gun to her head and using her as a shield.

"Step back! One more step forward and I blow this bitches brains all over the wall." The rest of his team came into the room, and guns aimed at the surviving merc. They heard gunshots coming from the other direction, and then an explosion, letting him know that Han and Bennie ran into the rest of the mercs. He heard Erik say "Bud, you are in a pretty shitty situation here. If you want to live, I suggest you let her go. I have no problem putting a bullet between your eyes."

The merc was obviously not listening. "Put your weapons down! Now, or I will shoot her!" Davin was running out of patience, but then he saw the Quarian reaching for a knife she had strapped to her upper thigh. She had courage, and he was going to give her all the distraction she needed.

"Alright, I'll lower my weapon." Davin said, holding his assault rifle away from his body. His team didn't follow suit, also seeing the Quarian move for her knife. The merc had all of his attention on Davin, and was oblivious to the Quarian he was holding hostage. "Alright, good. You're smart. Now for the rest of you to-"

He never got to finish. The quarian pulled her knife out and stabbed the merc in the leg, between his armor. He roared, letting go of her. She dived, and Davin's team fired, and Davin felt blood splatter on his face and armor as the bullets tore the merc apart, killing him. They ceased firing, and Davin sighed, glad that was over. He walked over to the Quarian, holding out his hand. "Are you alright? You weren't hit or any-"

She hit his hand away. "I'm fine, human." She hissed at him. Standing up, she wiped herself off and glared at them. She was tall, almost 6 foot by the looks of it. "Who are you guys? How'd you get here?" she asked, though it was more like demanding.

Davin stood up straight, surprised by her hostility. "I am Davin, Commander in the Alliance Navy. We were on our way home when we got an emergency transmission from this location, asking for help."

She looked down, thinking. "That means Hane was able to get the transmission out. Did anyone else survive?"

Davin shrugged. "I saw plenty of blood, but no bodies. Maybe they were taken to a diff-"

"They are all dead." He heard Han say, surprising him and making the Quarian jump. Davin turned towards Han. "We found the rest of the scientists." Han continued. "They were all dragged to a room at the end of the hall. We caught the rest of the mercs while they were searching the rooms. Took care of them, though Bennie threw a damn grenade at the last one. Poor bastard."

Davin raised an eyebrow at Bennie, who only smiled. Bennie was known for being a bit…unstable. Before Davin could say anything, the Quarian gasped. "A grenade? The research!" and with that she ran out the room, ignoring Davin's protests. Davin cursed to himself. The woman was already more of a handful than the mercs. He followed her, the rest of the team leaving with him.

They arrived in the room Han described, and Davin had to take off his helmet. He looked around at the horrific view before him, smelling the smell of the dead. They had thrown all of the dead Quarian scientists into a big pile in the center of the room; there had to be at least 15 of them. He looked around, seeing equipment he did not comprehend, blood all over the place, the bodies of the fallen mercs splayed out everywhere, the scorch mark on the wall and what was left of the merc hit by the grenade…and the Quarian, looking through cabinets and equipment frantically. He debated going over there to help her, but Adam interrupted his thoughts by doing what he does best.

"Quarian, what the hell is in here that's so fucking important that the sight of your dead colleagues doesn't faze you in the slightest?" Adam demanded, glaring at her. She whipped her head around, and even though he couldn't see her face, Davin bet she was glaring right back.

"Something a human wouldn't understand. This research is not only vital to us, but also none of your damn business." With that, she went back to searching. Adam wasn't done yet though. "Fuck that bullshit; we just saved your ass. That merc would have beaten you to death if not for us. You owe us some infor-"

"Stand down Adam." Davin said. Adam glared at him. "What do you mean stand down? She just-"

"I said stand down soldier. Not another word." Davin said, and Adam shut up, though he continued to glare at the Quarian. Davin felt someone tap his shoulder, and he turned to find Han. "What is it Han?" Davin asked.

Han coughed to clear his throat. "Commander, something isn't right here. These guys are wearing Blue Suns armor, but the armor looks old and unkempt. To make matters worse, everyone I've seen so far is human, and there are multiple races in the Blue Suns. They don't have any units made solely of humans. They had no shields, which Blue Suns do, and their weapons are old and out of date. These are not Blue Sun mercs."

Davin absorbed everything he just heard. "No, but someone wanted us to think that they were Blue Suns. Why?" Davin turned to his team. "Search the mercs. I want anything that could identify who they really belong too. Something is off here."

"Yes Commander." He heard, and they spread out. Hans nodded and went to join them. Davin sighed, deciding to try and get more information out of the Quarian. He walked over to her, where she was on a computer. It looked like she was downloading the information on it to her omni-tool. Davin waited a bit, and then spoke up."What is your name?"

She turned to look at him. "Why do you ask, human?"

"So I have something to call you beside girl and Quarian." Davin replied, wishing she could be a little more understanding. "If I gave you my name, would that help? Do you want my full name?"

She shook her head and sighed. "No, your full name is unnecessary. My name is Vara."

Davin raised his eyebrow. "Vara? Don't Quarians include the name of their ship in their name?"

She grunted. "At least you're not totally ignorant. Yes, but I'm a special case. I left the fleet in order to do research. I no longer have a ship."

He nodded, understanding. "I see. Well, do you know who these guys are?"

She shook her head. "I thought they were just humans who hated Quarians, until they started asking for our research. When we didn't comply, they started killing us."

Davin bowed his head. "I'm sorry this happened." She grunted. "Don't act like you care about us human."

Davin grabbed her shoulders, swinging her around and surprising her. He got closer so she could see his expression. "Don't assume all humans are the same. I didn't go calling you a suit rat or any dumb racist shit like that; at least give me the same respect."

She didn't reply, and he couldn't read anything from her mask. He let go of her, hoping he got his point across. "Now, is there anything I can do to help?"

She stayed silent for awhile, and he was about to turn and leave when she said, "It seems Hane moved it so they wouldn't find it. I'm trying to see if he left a clue where he put it for me."

He nodded. "So look for something that looks like a message or a clue. Got it." And he started helping her. They were looking for about five minutes when Davin found 1 of the drawers had a strange symbol carved into it. "Vara, I think I found something." She stopped what she was doing and went over to where he was. "Look at this." He said, pointing at the strange carving. It looked kind of like a bird…

Vara looked at it, and then stood straight up, shaking her head. "I can't believe I didn't think of that first!" She walked over to the other side of the room, where there were a bunch of lockers. She went to his, tapped a few keys, and it slid open, revealing a container. She pulled it out slowly, as if it were as fragile as glass, and sighed heavily. "Thank you Hane."

"I'm going to go ahead and guess that's what you were looking for." Adam said, making Davin and Vara look at him. The team all came over. "You guys find anything?" Davin asked.

They didn't answer at first, looking at each other. Davin didn't like the look on their faces. "Well?" He demanded. Han stepped forward.

"Commander…only one had any identifying marks…and it was a Cerberus tattoo."

"Of course it had to be Cerberus." Davin said. Cerberus always claimed that everything they did was in the best interest of humans, but all he ever saw them do was expand their own ambitions. And kill anyone who got in their way. "To make it worse, they were going to frame the Blue Suns for it."

"Bosh'tets." Vara said, and Davin assumed it didn't mean anything nice.

"It's evil, despicable…and smart." Erik said, surprising them. "If you want to do something illegal and not get caught, framing a popular mercenary group is smart." Erik saw them all glaring at him, and he raised his hands defensively. "Hey, I'm not saying I agree with it. But this was well thought out; they really wanted what was here."

"But why?" Vara said. "This research is all towards Quarians. Nothing here really benefits humans at all, unless you have very weak immune systems and I didn't know about it."

They all shook their heads. "Nope, none of this makes sense." Davin said. "But for now we need to leave. Who knows if there is more on the way. And I need to inform Anderson about this." They all nodded and started walking towards the exit, guns raised just in case. Davin looked at Vara. "It's probably better if you come with us."

She sighed. "Not much choice." Davin almost smiled, but he never really smiled. "You want me to carry that for you?"

She shook her head. "No, you human's legs are too straight. I don't know how you don't fall over whenever you walk."

Davin shrugged. "Practice I guess."

She grunted, and they walked out of the building, having no clue what was in store for them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I am definitely glad we are back in our own ship and not on that hot, dusty planet anymore." Erik said, waltzing into the medical and plopping down on one of the beds they have. Vara jumped in surprise, and glared at him, wishing he could see it. She had enough problems with this Asari doctor checking every nook and cranny of her without an annoying human. "Why are you here?" She asked bluntly.

"Making sure you're ok. Our commander might not admit it, but he thinks that punk might have punctured your suit or something like that. He is just too stubborn to come and ask himself." Erik replied, smiling. Vara continued her glare, not familiar with the word 'punk'. "Well tell him not to worry about me. That stupid human didn't injure me in the slightest."

"Well, if you don't count swelling and bruises, then yes he didn't injure you."Alere Cantin, their Asari doctor, said. She had been poking and prodding Vara everywhere and it was starting to annoy her. "Nothing fatal, so you should be fine." Alere continued. Vara only grunted. Alere turned to Erik. "Was anyone else injured?"

"Nope." Erik simply said. "They were only expecting unarmed scientist, not a unit of alliance soldiers. It was an easy day." Then Erik looked at Vara, and didn't look away. She didn't like it; it was like he was studying her. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, I'm just wondering something." He said, still looking at her. She was starting to get agitated. "Well what are you wondering that you need to stare at me for?"

"Why my Commander acts differently towards you." He said, and it baffled Vara to where she had no response. Erik continued. "When Adam was getting upset, he actually told Adam to stand down. He even offered to help you look for your research." At the mention of her research, she reached out and laid her hand on the gray container.

"Now, I have known Davin longer than anyone here, and he is a total hard ass, and kind of a downer. He never lets himself get interested into others affairs. Yet he even let you stab that one merc, when Jacob had a headshot the entire time." Erik looked down, as if lost in thought, and then smiled. "He must like you."

Vara was so confused she didn't know how to respond, but she didn't need to; Alere did it for her. "And you're supposed to know Davin better than any of us? You're way off Erik. I doubt Davin likes her." The way she said that sentence was different than how she talked before; it seemed snotty, almost as if she had a grudge. Vara was getting more confused by the minute. Luckily for her, Davin walked in at that moment, and Alere switched her focus to him.

"Commander Davin! It's wonderful to see you." She said, beaming. Vara stared at her, then Erik, who was trying not to laugh. "Hello Alere." Davin replied, very bluntly. "Is everything with Vara ok?"

"Yes, she's fine." Alere said quickly, not fazed at all by his blunt response. "I'm more worried about you. Are you feeling ok?"

Davin raised an eyebrow at her, and Vara couldn't believe what she was seeing. The doctor obviously liked him, a lot by the sound of it. Yet he seems completely ignorant of it. She looked at Erik again and saw he had his hand over his mouth, almost failing at containing his laughter. "I'm fine Dr. Alere." Davin replied.

Alere simply nodded and goggled at him. It was making Vara sick to watch, and she was relieved when Davin said, "Vara, come with me. We need to speak." She got off of the hospital bed and gladly followed him, hearing Erik laugh just as they left.

She was going to speak but Davin spoke first. "How did you know where the research was? What did that symbol mean?"

Vara was confused for a second, and then remembered. "Oh, Hane loved birds, and kinda made that little symbol up. He put it on everything that was his, like it was an obsession. So when I saw it on something that wasn't his, I assumed he hid it in his locker."

Davin nodded. "Makes sense." Then his face grew serious. "How important is that research? It must be important if people are willing to kill you for it."

She hesitated, trying to decide how much she should tell him. He seemed trustworthy, but he is a human, and she has had bad experience with humans before. "It's important." Was all she said. She bit her lip, hoping he would leave it at that.

To her surprise, he simply nodded and continued walking. They walked in an awkward silence for awhile, and then she couldn't hold it in any longer. "You know Dr. Alere likes you, right?"

To her surprise, he looked uncomfortable. "Yes, it's impossible not to notice. It's the reason I don't go there very often."

Vara just looked at him. "You don't like the attention?"

He grunted. "Like it? No. I don't need the only doctor on board checking me out and flirting with me constantly. I thought if I just ignored her she'd give in, but it only got worse. Some guys might like that. She's an Asari after all. But that's just not me."

Vara glared at him. "Because she's an Asari?"

Davin raised an eyebrow. "What? That has nothing to do with it. She could be a human and I wouldn't like it. Believe it or not, not all humans despise other races."

"Oh…" Vara replied, blushing from embarrassment. She must sound like a total bitch to him, always assuming he doesn't like other aliens. Davin stopped, making her stop as well. He sighed deeply.

"If I come off as that type, I'm sorry. I'm not a Cerberus soldier. I have no problems with other species at all."

She crossed her arms, looking away and feeling like an idiot. "You don't have to be sorry." Was all she could think to say. He simply nodded and they continued. He opened a door and they walked into a huge room with the rest of the crew relaxing in it. Debra looked towards them and lifted a glass full of alcohol. "Commander! I was wondering where you went. Flirting with Dr. Alere again I see." The group chuckled, Vara almost joining them now that she understood. Davin didn't even smirk, just shook his head.

"How did informing the higher ups go?" Jacob asked, his rough voice like sandpaper. Vara had never seen a bald human before, and was trying not to stare and failing. Davin grunted. "They want us to go back home and bring Vara with us."

They all cheered. "Finally heading back." Han said. Adam grunted. "Looks like the Quarian gets to see Earth. Lovely."

Vara glared at him again, not liking him one bit. Debra snorted at him. "At least there will be someone who wants to see her, unlike you Adam." Adam flicked her off, and she turned towards Vara, smiled at her, and winked. Vara didn't know how to respond; this was all new to her. She was used to being left alone, only Hane talking to her every now and then, and always about the research. She jumped as Erik came up behind them and laid 1 hand on her shoulder, the other on Davin's.

"I'm glad I caught up to you love birds. We should arrive at Earth pretty soon. How about you give her a tour once we get there Commander?" Vara pushed his arm off as Davin simply shook his head. "You how it goes; I'll have to give a full report to the-"

"Oh screw that Davin." Erik interrupted, surprising Vara again when he used Davin's name instead of Commander. "I'll give the report for you. You're the Commander, so it's your job to show your guest our beautiful planet. Besides, would you rather Adam did it?"

Adam looked up at the mention of his name. "Not happening"

"I wouldn't have gone with you anyway, jackass." Vara said, and she heard a chuckle behind her. The whole room went quiet, so quiet to where she almost freaked out. "What? Is something wrong?"

They stayed silent for a bit more, staring. She thought they were staring at her, then she followed their eyes and saw they were staring at Davin. "What?" He said.

"You…just laughed." Erik said, gaping at him. Davin blinked at him. "And?"

"You never laugh." Debra said. "You never even smile, not even when Erik cracks his lame jokes."

"Hey my jokes aren't lame." Erik said, putting a hurt look on his face. Then he looked at Vara, smiling. "Be careful, Dr. Alere might get jealous."

Davin shook his head. "You are all crazy." And left the room, leaving Vara with his crazy team.

.

.

"We are entering Earths atmosphere, Commander." Their pilot, Hanna, told him over the intercom. He nodded to himself, washing off his face. He had been deep in thought, and he couldn't get it off of his mind. Something didn't seem right about all of this. What about this research is so important that Cerberus wants it? Then with the whole laughing thing. Had they really never seen him laugh? He looked at himself in the mirror, his blue eyes shining back at him. He looked like always; grim, a slight frown on his face, nothing new. He smiled at himself, and cringed at how horrible he was at it. He sighed and walked over to his bed, getting dressed.

He wasn't the jolliest guy, true. He had a hard childhood, and the military didn't really improve his humor. He pushed it out of his mind as he pulled his boots on. He had to give Vara a tour of California, where they were landing. Maybe get her to tell him more about this research. He hoped Erik didn't do anything to piss off the higher ups; he was known as a jokester, a little too much at times. But he was a good soldier, and an even better friend. Davin finished buttoning up his uniform and headed out to the lounge.

He saw his group already dressed up and ready, laughing and forming a circle around Vara. They were being themselves, all joking besides Levie, who didn't talk much. He couldn't tell if Vara was upset or happy; that damn mask. But he sighed, hiding a small smile as he walked up to them.

"Well, if it isn't our blushing commander. You done calming down?" Debra said, laughing loudly. Davin growled in response, making everyone chuckle. "So, Commander, ready to go from a soldier to a tour guide?"

Davin glared at him. "Keep bugging about it and you'll go from soldier to toilet cleaner." Erik gasped and shut up, making everyone chuckle again. Davin gave a small smile; perhaps he is too grim. "Hey, team, we need to-"

He never got to finish, as the door leading outside opened and soldiers poured in, guns raised. His team reacted instantly, raising their guns and aiming right back. Davin pulled out his pistol with experienced speed and aimed it at the nearest soldier. He looked around, confused. They were Alliance soldiers. Why were they detaining them?

The answer walked through the door with a smile on his face. Davin glared at the person he liked the least in the entire Alliance Navy.

Derrick Grimer. He was a captain of his own team, and a dirty soldier. He broke the rules as often as he could and gets away with it because his father is an admiral. The moment he met Davin he decided he didn't like him, and Davin wasn't fond of him as well. They even got into a fist fight once, with Davin being deployed into the worst battle he's ever gotten to as a result. "Well, look who it is. Kecker, if you're smart you will stop aiming your weapon at my soldiers."

Davin debated for a moment, and then nodded. "You're right." He said, and swung his gun around to aim at Derrick himself. The smile vanished from his face, replaced by a glare. "Pretty ballsy Kecker. I should have you shot for-"

"Shut up and get off my ship." Davin said, cutting him off. He could see Derricks face grow red as he slid his hand through his grey hair in anger. It was a weird habit of his. "How dare you! I have orders too acquire the research from the Quarian."

He saw Vara clutch the grey container to her chest out of the corner of his eye. He placed his aim right between Derrick's eyes. "Fuck your orders. Until I hear from the higher ups themselves, you can screw off. And if you don't do it soon, it'll be a bullet between the eyes. Your pick."

Derrick couldn't get any redder. But he wasn't dumb. He had four soldiers and him, while Davin had seven. If he opened fire, it was likely Derrick would lose. After thinking about it for awhile, Derrick conceded. "Soldiers! Move out." The soldiers lowered their weapons and marched outside. Derrick began to follow them, then turned back and snarled "This isn't over Kecker. I will get that research." And with that he left.

Davin waited until the door closed automatically, then lowered his gun, sighing. His team followed suit, looking pissed. "What an asshole." Adam said. "Never liked him, daddy's boy. Thinks he can do whatever he wants."

"Why did he call you Kecker?" Vara asked. They all looked at her, blinking, until Davin remembered she didn't know him well yet. "That's my last name. we don't see eye to eye, and he uses it in a disrespectful way." She nodded, and Davin sighed again. "I'm going to get in trouble for this, I can feel it already."

"So?" Adam said. "Doesn't matter. I sure wasn't going to let him have this research we fought for. "The rest of the group nodded.

"And if he tried to get it from me, He'd get a knife in his ribs." Vara announced, making them chuckle, remembering her stabbing the merc. Davin smiled and forced his way through his circle of friends and approached Vara. "Well, let's get on with this. Erik made it clear I need to show you my favorite state in the U.S.; California."

She looked at him for awhile, and then nodded, following him out of the ship.

.

.

Vara was struck speechless by how beautiful the scenery was. Davin took her to places where she could see mountains and trees, and she just absorbed it all, never realizing how beautiful Earth was. Davin even seemed to enjoy himself; He smiled when she gasped at the giant red trees, so tall she couldn't see the tops of them. She momentarily forgot all about her anger at humans and her research. As they were on their way back, she felt comfortable enough to ask him questions.

"Do you really never smile?" She asked him randomly. He kept driving for a bit, not responding. Then, "No, not really."

"Why?" She asked, and almost regretted it when he turned to her and she saw the sadness in his eyes. "Do you really want to know?" He asked.

She stared into his blue eyes and saw no humor in them; he was dead serious. She almost said no, but nodded. He sat back in the seat of the car, thinking of how to tell her.

"Well, I had a rough childhood. My father was a military man and a real hard ass. He made it clear early on I was going to join the military, and it did not matter if I wanted something else. He never hit my mom, but wasn't above knocking me around if I didn't listen. When I was 16, he pulled some favors and forced me into the Alliance Navy even though I wasn't old enough. I…wasn't ready. Luckily, it was after the first contact war, but there were still plenty of enemies to fight, so I was kept busy. He also made sure I had to have a combat position, so I had to kill. Killing that young…changes you I guess. Erik enlisted with me, being 2 years older than me and able to, but after awhile even he couldn't help. Then I was deployed to the battle of the golden roses."

Vara looked at him. "Battle of golden roses?"

Davin nodded. "It was a mercenary group that was like Cerberus, but twice as racist and had too many followers. They started attacking anything that wasn't human, and since we didn't want another war, we were sent out to handle it." He paused, remembering it in his head, then continued. "It was a very bloody battle. The golden roses had over 2000 mercs, and we had to kill every single one…I earned the nickname 'the Hand of Death' during that battle. I killed so many of them…They say I killed 500, but it was only 97. I thought id feel like we won something, but after it was over, I only felt empty inside. After that, they promoted me and raised me to a commander, and gave me my own unit and ship. That's how I met all of those morons back on the ship." Davin smiled to himself, but it was a sad smile.

Vara didn't know what to say at first. She now understood why he didn't smile. "You remember the number of people you've killed?"

He nodded. "154 so far. I remember every single one of them. They will be burned into my memory for the rest of my life." They sat in an awkward silence for awhile, the Davin said, "What about you? What made you leave the fleet? It's rare for a Quarian to willingly leave the fleet for anything beside battle or a pilgrimage."

She decided since he was being honest with her, she would at least do the same. "Well, growing up I was always a smart kid. As I got older, I saw that instead of trying to help our race, all the admirals could do is try to find ways to destroy the Geth. I voiced my opinion, and they didn't agree. My father actually disowned me for it, so I decided I was going to leave the fleet and research something useful that can help our people."

He nodded. "Sounds just like you, and sounds like you have more sense then the others. What are you researching?"

This was the tricky part she was avoiding. Should she trust him with delicate information like this? She could lie, but he doesn't seem like the type who is easily fooled. She sighed, giving in. "I'm researching ways to fix our weak immune systems. These environmental suits are basically handicaps. I want to be able to smell the air, and eat solid food." She paused, and decided she might as well go all the way. "And I'm actually very close."

Davin raised an eyebrow at her. "How so?"

She bit her lip, a bad habit of hers, knowing she couldn't back out now. "We found a mineral on a very hostile planet. Lost a few people to get it, but from what the scans say…It's an amazing mineral. I was going to test it soon, but then we got attacked, and you know the rest."

Davin didn't say anything for awhile, worrying her. Then he said "I see. It makes a little more sense why Cerberus would want it now."

She blinked, not understanding. "It does?"

He nodded. "Imagine if what you found is exactly what you need to permanently boost your immune system. Do you know how much the Quarians would pay for such a cure? How much any species would pay for it?"

She mulled it over, and her eyes grew wide as she realized he was right. Then fleet would pay an arm and a leg for it, and other species even more. They could make enough credits to swim in."

"Especially when, according to our reports, Cerberus spent over a billion credits on a project recently." Davin continued. Vara gasped. "A billion credits!"

He nodded. "Yes. I wasn't told why, but it must be important to put that money into a single project. And it also means they need to make up for all of that lost money now. Your research is the perfect money maker."

She stared at Davin, seeing him differently. "I didn't realize…that you were smart."

He chuckled. "You thought I was just another dumb human?"

She smiled. "Well, actually, yes I did. But you have proven me wrong. Now I see you as a regular human."

He actually laughed at that, which surprised her. "Well, better than before I guess."

His face grew serious again, so fast she was baffled. "We need to get back now. I'm sure the admirals would love to have a word with me."

She nodded, and sat back while he drove towards the military base.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What were you thinking Commander?" Admiral Hackett, less than a foot away from Davin as he stood at attention. Davin sighed; the conversation going about as well as he thought it would.

Admiral Hackett continued. "You went to an unknown planet, based of an emergency transmission from an unknown source, without asking if you were even able to, and then you bring back an unknown Quarian with research that is worth killing over. Have you lost your god damn mind?"

Davin didn't reply, and Admiral Hackett sighed. "Well, at least you saved one person and got information. Cerberus sending people in Blue Suns armor huh. Clever, but flawed. They must have been damn sure no one would disturb them." He paused, and then continued. "What about this Quarian?"

Davin spoke. "She claims to not know them in the slightest, and she didn't seem like she was lying. When I discovered what the research was about, it makes sense. They spent a lot of credits." Davin paused, then asked, "Do we know what they spent all of those credits on?"

Hackett didn't respond for a few seconds, then nodded. "It's not set in stone yet, but from my reports, I think they spent it on a project to revive Commander Shepard."

Davin blinked stupidly. "On…reviving Commander Shepard. THE Commander Shepard?"

Hackett nodded.

"But isn't he dead?"

Hackett shrugged. "I guess he wasn't dead enough for Cerberus. All we know is that they have his body. We don't have any more information at the moment, but that's what my sources tell me." He turned back to Davin. "Commander, I'm going to post you and your unit in Omega."

Davin blinked again. "Omega? Why?"

Hackett smiled. "That research is important. And if we help her finish it, we could have an alliance with the Quarians as a result for helping. So I'm going to supply her with all the money she needs, and send you somewhere no one would expect a scientist to go."

Davin nodded. It made sense; no scientist in their right mine would work on Omega, home to mercenaries and thugs. "So we protect her until she finishes her research. Sounds easy enough."

Hackett's face grew serious. "Not if Cerberus is really determined to get it. It won't be too long before they discover where we've hidden her. They will try to take it again."

Davin smiled, surprising the Admiral. "And they will fail, just like last time. My team can handle it sir."

Hackett smiled. "Then that is all. Good luck Commander." Davin saluted, and Hackett returned it. They lowered their arms, and Davin left, wondering how this new arrangement would go.

.

.

"Omega?" Vara said, confused. Davin had brought them all into the lounge and announced they were going to Omega. "Why?" She asked.

Davin rubbed his chin. "Admiral Hackett wanted us to go somewhere you wouldn't really look for a scientist. He wants you to complete your research."

Normally, Vara would have been happy, but she had been proposed this before, and she was cautious. "And why would he want that?" She said, crossing her arms. Davin smiled at this, surprising his unit again. Vara could almost feel Dr. Alere seething behind her. "Honestly, he hopes that by helping you, it improves relations between humans and Quarians, even maybe an alliance. But he knows it's not set in stone; he just figures it's better for you to finish it then for Cerberus to get hold of it."

She thought about it, and then nodded. She wouldn't complain about help, especially sincere help. "So how many credits is he going to send?"

Davin smirked again. "His exact words were 'as many as she needs'."

Vara's eyes grew wide. "Are you serious?"

Davin raised an eyebrow. "Do I look like the joking type?"

"Point taken." She replied, smiling to herself. She was so happy she could have hugged him, but she resisted. Everyone would get the wrong idea. "Thank you, Commander Davin. This is exactly what I needed."

Davin waved away her thanks. "It was nothing. And don't call me Commander; you're not one of my soldiers." He looked at the rest of his team. "Ready to go to Omega?" They all said in unison, "Yes Commander!"

.

.

"Soooo…" Davin heard Erik say, making him sigh. Davin could already see where this was going, but it was Erik so he humored him. "So what Erik?"

It was just him and Erik walking around to get away from the group for awhile. Out of the unit, Erik was the only one he knew prior, and his best friend. They always found some time to themselves to talk about recent events, and of course he was going to ask.

"You and Vara huh." He said simply, his eyes gleaming with humor. Davin growled. "There is no me and Vara. I'm helping her and it ends there."

"Don't bullshit me Davin." Erik said, seeing right through him as always. "You have not only smiled because of her, you even laughed. Then you go and get her full funding from the Alliance. Admit it; she is growing on her."

Davin growled again, feeling a slight blush on his cheeks betraying him. "Well…fine, a little. But it doesn't mean anything. You've heard her; she clearly isn't fond of humans."

"Yet she went on that little tour with you. Seeing all those beautiful sights….kind of like a date, dontcha think?"

Davin glared at Erik, then smiled, giving up. "Fine, fine, I like the damn Quarian. Happy now?"

Erik cheered. "Hahaa! You can't keep anything from me Davin. I know you better than your own damn father. Happy? It's about time you get a damn woman. You need a woman to round your rough edges my friend."

"I've been with a woman before." Davin said as he punched him in the arm. They had walked into a small market, and Erik almost fell into a stall, saving himself at the last second and receiving a glare from a Salarian. "Sorry." Erik said, grinning, and went back to picking on Davin.

"No, you've slept with a woman before. Sleeping with one and dating one are 2 completely different things." Davin mulled this over, and slumped his soldiers.

"Fine, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. I never dated; my father never gave me the time too."

Erik grinned. "Well, first you need t-"But was cut off as a Krogan walked right into him, knocking Erik aside and making him stumble. "Hey, watch where the hell you're going ya big frog." Erik said. The Krogan turned around, another Krogan besides him doing the same. They walked over to Davin and Erik and got into Erik's face.

"Watch who you're talking to, meat sack, unless you want trouble with the Blood Pack." The Krogan said, pushing Erik. Erik was ready this time, and he only leaned back a little, and then returned the push, surprising the Krogan and making him stumble backwards a little.

"And watch who you're pushing, before I break that ugly thing you call a face, ya fucking toad." Erik replied, obviously trying to start a fight. He got one, as the Krogan roared and charged at Erik, catching him in the chest and knocking him back. Davin was about to go help him, when he saw the other Krogan rush at him. Davin waited until the Krogan was about to hit him, then jumped to the side, kicking out the Krogans legs as he passed by. The Krogan fell hard, and Davin didn't give him any time to recover. Davin went over and kicked the Krogan in the face, hard. The Krogan hit the ground and didn't move. Davin smiled and went to Erik.

Erik had gotten back up and was using his speed to out maneuver the big Krogan. Every time the Krogan swung, Erik would dodge and return the blow, easily dodging and repeating. After the Krogan took an elbow to the face, he jumped back. "That's enough!" The Krogan roared, and pulled a block off his back, which turned into a shotgun. But Davin was way ahead of him, pulling out his pistol twice as fast and firing, hitting the shotgun out of the Krogans hands. The Krogan turned towards him, glaring bloody murder at Davin, and completely forgot about Erik, who delivered a crushing elbow to the Krogans temple, knocking him to the ground out cold.

Panting, Erik turned towards Davin, smiling. "Jeeze, these ass holes, right?"

Davin shook his head. "We just got here, and you're already picking fights with merc groups. I can already see how these next few months are going to go." Erik smiled, until he saw that Davin's face didn't change. "When these guys wake up, they are going to go cry to there little friends. Now we are going to have a mercenary group with a grudge." Davin got into Erik's face. "Think for a god damn second man! We are supposed to attract as little attention as possible. And here you go and try to attract as much attention as you can."

Erik looked at the ground, feeling ashamed because Davin was right. "I'm sorry…Commander."

"Oh don't give me that bullshit." Davin growled, making Erik look back at him. Davin sighed, smiling a little and placing his hand on his best friends shoulder. "It's Davin when we aren't in a combat situation Erik."

That cheered him up a bit, and they started heading back to their new little home for the time being, with Erik saying, "Hey, you gotta admit, it was pretty funny. I called him a fucking toad."

.

.

"Well, there is definitely enough space for me to finish my research." Vara said, impressed that the Admiral found such a big place for them in Omega. The living room was a good size itself. The spare room, where she will set up her temporary lab, was almost as big as her actual lab. She didn't see any problems with space in the near future…

But there was one problem. Including her, there were 9 of them in total…and only 7 rooms. Debra already claimed the living room, and no one else wanted to share rooms with anybody. She sighed, remembering her failed attempt at making 1 of them share a room. Most laughed, Jacob grunted, and Bennie giggled hysterically, which kinda scared her. The last 2 she could ask was Erik and Davin. Davin hasn't even picked a room yet; he walked off for some 'fresh air' the instant they moved all of the luggage into the new house.

"You should share a room with the Commander." Debra said behind her, making her jump. She turned towards Debra, getting annoyed at being surprised all the damn time. "Very funny Debra."

"Just call me Deb." The nearly bald woman replied, smiling mischievously. "And I'm serious. If you don't offer, then he might have to sleep on the ship all alone with Dr. Alere, and no one wants that." She winked at Vara.

Vara shook her head. "I doubt he'd sleep on the ship."

"Do you now?" Debra responded, making Vara hesitate. "The Commander isn't going to force anyone to live in the same room as him. He's a hard ass, but not a jackass. He will give up and go back to the ship…where Dr. Alere is waiting to sink her claws into him."

Vara chuckled a little, imagining Dr. Alere actually grabbing Davin with claws, Then she felt herself get…jealous? She shook her head. She must be imagining it. "That wouldn't be too bad. She seems to want him badly."

"But he doesn't want her." Debra said, putting her hands on her hips. "Our commander is a very stubborn man at times. I've never seen him with a woman. I've seen him offered plenty of times, even a father offering his daughter once…which was a little weird, but he declined them all." Debra smiled. "But I bet if you offered to share rooms with him, he'd say yes."

Kara was about to argue when someone said, "Just do it." They both turned to see the only person there was Levie. "Levie…did you say something?" Debra asked. Levie turned towards them, was silent for a long time, than said "I said just do it. Commander has enough problems without being away from his unit with Dr. Alere who only annoys him." With that she turned back to watching T.V.

Debra laughed. "It's official now. The silent machine just spoke more to you than I've heard her speak in a year. Now you have to."

 _Dammit._ Vara thought. She had never heard Levie speak until now. It was getting harder and harder to argue with them…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door flying open, with Erik and Davin waltzing in with arms full of bags…full of food. Debra laughed when she saw them. "Well, we won't go hungry at least with out boy wonders over here." Vara giggled, and Erik laughed. "Well, someone has to be the boy wonders, because we are the only good looking guys here."

Debra snorted. "The Commander maybe, but definitely not you."

Erik flicked her off, smiling. "What would you know, you run the opposite way."

Debra flicked him back off. "I run both ways, as a matter of fact. I just don't run your way, and most women agree with me."

Erik's eyes grew wide. "Wait, you're a woman?" Vara heard Davin chuckle, a Debra started cracking her knuckles. Erik gestured at her to bring it. "Come at me then. I just took on a Krogan; you're small in comparison."

Both Debra and Vara looked at Davin for an explanation. Davin sighed, shaking his head. "A couple of Krogans bumped into Erik, and it went from there."

Debra laughed. "Fought a Krogan huh. Must have been fun."

Erik smiled, but Vara now noticed his knuckles were bloody and swollen. "Ya, though their skin is hard as hell. It was like punching a wall." Erik said.

Debra shook her head and turned to Davin. "Commander! We have a small problem."

Davin raised an eyebrow at her. "What kind of problem?"

Vara felt herself blushing, knowing exactly what problem Debra meant. "There are only 7 bedrooms, and I already called the living room." Debra continued, smiling and glancing at Kara.

Davin rubbed his chin, and just as Debra said he would, He answered, "Well…I guess I can sleep on the ship. I prefer to be closer, but-"

"Or." Vara said, more loudly than she intended, and blushed deeply when Davin looked at her. "….Or you can s-share a room with…me."

Erik smiled so wide Kara thought it would touch his ears, and she glared at him, even though he couldn't see it. Davin rubbed the back of his neck this time, looking embarrassed, which surprised Vara. "Really? Are you sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable Vara…" was his reply.

Vara almost groaned, knowing she couldn't back out now. "No…It's fine Davin. The ship is too far away; if anything happened here, we would need our Commander here. Besides, I'm a Quarian; it's not like I'm going to change clothes often or anything."

Davin seemed to think about it for awhile, and then nodded, making Debra smirk at her. "Alright, we can share a room. But only bec-"

He was cut off when Han burst into the house, panting. They all turned to look at him, waiting in suspense. "Commander, The blood pack is beating up 2 unarmed Quarians. Yelling that they need their protection and to pay up for it."

Davin thought about it; Vara, on the other hand, did not. "Quarians?" She said. Han nodded, and she stormed off, walking out the door and ignoring Davin once again. Davin looked at Han, who shrugged. He sighed, and then said "If we are going to start trouble, let's do it in a smart way. You 3 go around and flank them. I want them to be at such a disadvantage that they don't even think about starting trouble." They nodded, and Davin jogged out after Vara, pulling his pistol out.

It wasn't vey hard to figure out where the commotion was coming from; the blood pack was loud enough for everyone on Omega to hear. Davin caught up with Vara just as the rest of the team did, all of them walking towards the blood pack.

There were 10 of them, 4 being Krogan, and 6 being Vorcha. Davin never liked Vorcha; not only is their appearance disturbing, they were known for selling anyone out without a second thought. He saw 2 Quarians, one a female and the other a male. They seemed like a couple, as she wrapped her arms around him when the Krogan threw him to the ground hard. The Quarian male coughed and the Krogan picked him up again, punching him in the ribs so hard Davin heard them crack as the woman screamed, beating at the Krogans legs and receiving a kick for it.

"What do you not understand, suit rat?" The Krogan asked as Davin and the rest started walking faster. "Either you pay for my protection, or I show you why you need it. If you don't cough up the credits soon, I'll break your stupid mask and watch you slowly-"

"Let him go." Davin said, finally making it over to them. Vara looked over; his time was completely different, as was his face. His eyes had grown cold, and his voice was that of a Commander again. The Krogan looked over at Davin and hesitated, seeing Davin's face. Then he growled, "Leave human, this is none of your business."

Vara had enough. Unable to control her anger any longer, she said, "You're right, it's my business." As she said it, she took her smg off her hip and pointed it straight at his face.

Everyone froze, not believing what they were seeing, then everyone sprang into action, the blood pack pointing their guns at her while Davin and the rest aimed their guns back. She didn't tell Davin or his group that she took a gun, but she was glad they reacted fast. The Krogan looked at the gun in her hand and sneered "Lower the gun, Quarian, or I'll break you too, dumb bitch." She kept her gun there, and jammed the muzzle into his head, wiping the sneer off of his face.

"You wouldn't get the chance, Krogan." Davin said, voice cold and hollow. "I would kill you before you even grazed her suit." The Krogan glared at Davin. "You are outnumbered. You only have 6 people; I have 10. Give up before we kill you."

"Really?" Erik said, smiling. "Check behind you, toad." A few of them turned and jumped at the sight of Han, Debra, and Levie standing their, guns aimed at the back of their heads. Now Vara saw the Krogan start get nervous.

"Now, not only are the numbers more even, you have enemies on both sides. It's not looking good for you." Davin said. The Krogan glared at him, then glared at Vara. She thought he was going to give up.

She was wrong. With a roar, The Krogan knocked her gun aside, moving faster than she believed he could, and swung at her. She thought she was done for, but just as his hand reached her, she saw his head explode as Davin kept his promise. Blood hit her mask, blinding her temporarily. She did the only thing she could think of; she ducked to the ground as the air exploded with gunshots, bullets, and screams. She wiped the blood off of her mask just in time to see a Vorcha's head disintegrated in a red mist from Debra's shotgun. All of a sudden the firing stopped, and after a few seconds she thought it was safe to stand up.

All of the blood pack was dead, barely any of them recognizable. Vara saw Han on the ground, clutching his side to stop the bleeding. Besides Han, it seemed only Adam had got hit; a bullet grazed his face, leaving a line across his cheek. She turned to Davin.

"Well, that went about how I expected it too." Davin said, sighing. Vara was amazed that he only had a pistol yet stood his ground in the face of assault rifles and shotguns. She was about to ask what he meant she gasped. "Davin, you're hit." She said, pointing at his hip. He looked down and saw his blood oozing out of the bullet wound. He looked at it for a bit and said, "Well look at that."

Vara just gawked at him. That's it? The man is insane. She shook her head and turned to the Quarians, walking towards them. "Hey, are you tw-"

"Stay away!" The male Quarian yelled, grabbing his wife and backing up, confusing Vara. "You're just as bad as they are." The Quarian continued. "Now they will be here with twice as many people and kill us. Just...go away."

Vara just stood there, dumbfounded by this, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked and saw Davin, his eyes full of sadness again. "Leave them be Vara. We stopped the blood pack; that's what we came to do."

"But we did it to save them!" Vara said, getting angry. "How can they say we are as bad as the blood pack?"

Davin didn't answer for a long time; he just looked into her eyes, trying to answer with just that. Then he said. "Because all they saw is us shooting them down. It doesn't matter that we did it on their behalf; people will believe what they want to believe, no matter the species. But right now we need to leave. This will reach the rest of the blood pack soon, and we don't want to be here when it does. Disappearing is the best idea right now."

She nodded slowly, understanding. She took one last look at the frightened Quarian couple, and then walked off with Davin and the rest of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"What are you up to?" Davin said, seeing Vara jump. She turned her head, probably glaring at him, and said, "Making sure all of the research is here. If Cerberus got any of it, then it would be incomplete; I'd then have to redo the parts that were missing and record them again. I need all of this intact when I present it to the admiralty board, or they will just laugh and send me on my way."

"Ah, I see." Davin replied, understanding. It was a week later, and so far everything had calmed down, which made Davin suspect it wouldn't last long. As the saying goes, it's the calm before the storm. He knew the blood pack wouldn't let this go, and the fact that they haven't responded yet means they were plotting something, and Davin didn't like plots.

Vara had gotten all of her equipment set up within that week, making the spare room her personal lab with everything she wanted to have. She had spent the entire week setting it all up, barely sleeping or eating. She sighed, pulling him from his thoughts, and closed her omni-tool. "Looks like I recovered it all. Good, no more back pedaling; I can go forward from here." Then she sighed again. "It's gonna be hard without an assistant to help me."

Davin smirked, walking up next to her. "Well look no further, your assistant is here."

She laughed at that. "Oh sure, have the commander of the unit assisting me. That would make them all laugh."

Davin shrugged. "They laugh at everything I do anyway; might as well give them an actual reason."

She looked at him again, humor gone. "You're…serious?"

He nodded. "Dead serious. Out of my entire unit, I have the second highest I.Q. I wanted to be in intelligence, but as I said, my father didn't give me a choice. I know the basics, and I learn fast." He looked at her. "So yes, I'd have no problem being your assistant…if you'll have me."

She looked like she was pondering it, then chuckled. "Sure, why not. I'll have to teach you all about it first…but if you're up to the challenge, then let's do it."

Davin smiled, and got to work.

.

.

 _He wasn't lying when he said he learned fast._ Vara thought as she showed Davin her research. He absorbed it like a sponge, and when she asked him to repeat what she just said, or explain something she had already told him, he did it perfectly with no hesitation. He just kept surprising her again and again. "How do you remember this so perfectly?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I have an eidetic memory. I remember almost everything, even things I don't want to remember. Always been that way since I can remember. Though just remembering it doesn't mean I understand it. But this isn't too hard to comprehend, and I think I understand everything you've told me so far."

Vara just gawked at him. Eidetic memory? She had always been smart, ever since she was a child, but she might have met her match with this man. She looked at him, really looked at him, seeing him differently than before. He was human, but his body wasn't too much different than a Quarians. Her eyes traveled his body, seeing the muscles barely contained by the simple t-shirt he was wearing, and realized what was different; she was seeing him as a man instead of a human. And she actually liked what she saw.

He caught her gaze, finally noticing she was looking at him. "Is there something wrong Vara?"

She blushed heavily, feeling her entire face get hot. "N-nothing. I was just gazing off is all. More tired than I realized…"

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she bit her lip, hoping he didn't see through her. She almost sighed in relief when he said "If you're tired, you can go take a nap. I've learned enough for today."

She pretended to think about it, then nodded. "I think I will. But first, how are you and Han doing? Han looked pretty bad…"

Then she did something that surprised her; He literally poked her mask, where her forehead would be. "Don't worry about us. We are not soldiers for the hell of it. I barely feel mine anymore, and Han will be fully healed in another week."

She nodded, blushing a bit. "O-ok then. I'll head up to the room." With that she left, feeling his eyes on her as she left. He wasn't stupid; he suspected something was up. What was going on with her? She didn't like humans at all, and here she was checking one out…

She had gotten to their room, shutting the door behind her. She sat on the edge of the bed, remembering the first time they met. She clearly remembered what he said to her. _Don't assume all humans are the same. I didn't go calling you a suit rat or any dumb racist shit like that; at least give me the same respect._ She had received nothing but scorn from every race in the galaxy, and she had started to assume they were all the same. But these humans were…different. Sure, they were a little weird; Adam was an asshole, and Bennie was insane, but none of them treated her differently because she was Quarian. They teased her and talked to her as if she was just another human. And Davin…

She looked over at his side of the room. They had split the room in two, each receiving a side. She had expected his side to be a mess, him not only being a human but a male as well, but his side was almost cleaner than hers. She looked above the bed where his head goes and stared at the sword he had there. It fascinated her; she had never seen a sword like it. It was slightly curved, in a black sheath with red wrapping all along the hilt. She decided to question him about it next time she saw him; it was beautiful.

She yawned, stretching her arms towards the ceiling. She was more tired than she realized. She lay down and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep with thoughts of Davin on her mind.

.

 _I swear it looked like she was checking me out._ Davin thought as he walked into the living room, drinking some water and sitting down. He shook his head, earning looks from everyone there. She couldn't have been checking him out; she hated humans.

"Everything alright Commander?" He heard Debra ask, pulling him from his thoughts. He looked at her. "Everything's fine. Just thinking."

"About Vara." Erik said from the other side of the room, earning a glare from Davin. "I saw you two in her little lab, flirting."

"We weren't flirting." Davin said, getting annoyed that everyone thought they did nothing but flirt. He might have, but he was awkward when it came to woman. "Besides, she certainly has no feelings for me."

"I wouldn't know about that." Debra said, making Davin raise his eyebrow at her. "What are you getting at Debra?"

She grinned. "Hello, she asked you to share rooms with her. When I told her that if you had to stay on the ship that Dr. Alere would take you for herself, I swear to god she got jealous. And now she's teaching you about the research that when Adam asked about it, she snapped. I know you're not that experienced with women, but damn Commander even you should be able to see all of the signs."

He sighed. They just wouldn't let up. "I'm not good with signs. Besides, don't forget who I am. No woman in her right mind would want to be with the hand of death." With that he got up and walked out of the room.

.

"He can be more stubborn than Adam sometimes." Erik heard Debra said, fuming. Erik smiled, but what his best friend had said worried him. He was still letting that nickname get to him. Unlike everyone else, Erik had known Davin their whole lives; Erik knew that underneath his stubborn, hard ass exterior that Davin was an emotional mess. He still held hatred towards his father for forcing him into the military and for being a shitty father in general. He still felt guilt for all the lives he took at the battle of golden roses. Most of the people there were just misguided fools who didn't know what they were getting themselves into, and Davin was sent there to kill everyone; soldier, civilian, it didn't matter.

Vara, in Erik's opinion, was the solution. She was just as stubborn as he was, and from past experience, Erik considered all women emotional. Vara could fix his emotional problems, but only if two things happened. One, if they both finally admit that they obviously like each other. And two, if Davin let's her inside his head. The second one was the one that worried him; Davin isn't known for talking about his problems. Soldiers handled their emotions and opinions in two ways; they either vent it towards their enemies, or bottle it up inside and pretend it's not there. Davin was the latter, and a pro at it.

Erik sighed. "You have to understand; Davin doesn't think anyone can like him."

"And he's fucking stupid for thinking that." Debra said. "Has he looked in the mirror lately? The guys a fucking stud."

Erik laughed. "A stud huh. Not how I would put it, but-"

"That's because you're a guy." Debra said, cutting him off. "But Davin is a good looking bastard. His eyes alone are enough to make a woman melt, not adding his strong jaw and the fact that the guys built like a body builder."

Erik blinked, being surprised. "Do you…like Davin, Debra?"

She laughed loudly. "Like him? When I first saw him, I wanted to rip his clothes off right there. But I knew he wasn't into the whole dike look, as Adam puts it, so I kept my distance."

Erik just blinked again, feeling stupid. He had no idea Debra had once had a thing for Davin. Made him wonder what else he didn't know about his fellow team mates.

"But Vara, on the other hand." Debra continued, "Would be perfect for him; he just needs to see that for himself."

Erik didn't argue; pointless to argue with a woman. "Anyway, change of subject. Something else is worrying me."

"And that would be?"

"Blood Pack." Erik said simply. "We slaughtered a good number of them, yet no retaliation at all. It's as if they are going to let it go, and mercenaries don't do that."

"Do you think they are plotting something?" Debra asked.

Erik nodded. "I think they are, and I don't like plots." Not knowing that Davin had the same thought earlier.

Debra shrugged. "There isn't much we can do. If they attack, we will hold them off, kill them, or die. If they don't, then we will keep our guards up and hope they know better than to fuck with us. Either way, it's their move now."

 _Very blunt way of looking at things._ Erik thought, agreeing with her nonetheless. He lay back in the chair. Maybe they would just let it go.

He should know better.

.

.

 _The streets emptied out pretty fast._ Vara thought as she walked down the street and saw no one. She couldn't get any sleep, so she decided to go out and get a few things. She saw that everybody was busy and couldn't find Davin, so she decided to go by herself. She didn't need someone holding her hand every time she went outside anyway.

But she was starting to regret it. This was Omega; there were plenty of people out on the street all day. So when they all just clear out at the same time, trouble was coming. She started to panic a bit, walking faster and making a horrible mistake.

She turned and went down an ally.

She regretted it the instant she did it, but she hurried along, hoping she was just being paranoid. She kept going, and was almost at the end when a big figure stepped out in front of her. She felt fear as she realized it was a Krogan, and turned around. She hadn't gone more than 10 steps when a smaller, slimmer figure stepped out. She saw only one way now, a turn that she passed before. She went down it, and was about to run when at the end a 3rd figure stepped out. She froze, realizing it too late.

She was surrounded.

.

Davin walked into the living room, stretching. He had accidently fallen asleep in Erik's room, and slept longer than he wanted to. He started towards his room, deciding to see if Vara was feeling better. But when he opened the door, the room was empty. Puzzled, he went back into the living room, seeing the usual three chilling there; Erik, Debra, and Levie.

"Hey, have any of you seen Vara?"

They all turned towards him. Erik smiled. "No, I haven't seen your little girlfriend lately. Thought you two were getting it on in your room." He glared at Erik, and then turned to Debra, who shook her head. He was about to leave when he heard Levie say "She left about an hour ago"

He turned back, surprised. Levie rarely talked. "Was she with someone?"

Levie shook her head.

 _Ah shit._ Davin knew that Vara was a magnet for trouble. He went to his room, strapping on his pistol and throwing on his trench coat, which his entire team told him was out of style.

Might as well make sure she didn't piss the wrong person off.

.

They had started closing in on her. They were close enough for Vara to see that the smaller ones were Vorcha. Davin was right; the blood pack wasn't done with them yet. They were just waiting for the right moment, which she stupidly provided them. She pulled a block off of her hip, seeing it transform into a SMG. This was all she had. She was terrified; she had never been trained how to use a gun, or any self defense for that matter. She didn't see herself making it out of this unscathed.

She saw the other 2 come from 1 side, while the 3rd one was blocking her other exit. She made a split decision and aimed her gun, shooting at the lone Vorcha. Maybe if she took him down, she could escape the other 2.

Her aim was horrible, and it wasn't until the end of her thermo clip that she actually hit him, seeing him collapse. She started to run, but didn't realize how long it took her to shoot the Vorcha; the other 2 caught up to her. She turned to shoot the Krogan, but he caught her gun before she could raise it. She felt her heart freeze as he roared, picking her up and slamming her, hard. She felt the air rush out of her lungs as she hit the ground, her gun flying out of her hand to land 10 feet away from her; it might as well have been a mile.

She groaned, trying to push herself up, and felt pain explode in her gut as the Krogan kicked her in the stomach. She curled up, but the Krogan wasn't done. He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her up, then slammed her against the wall, pushing his arm against her throat, making it hard to breathe. He got really close to her, smiling.

"We have been waiting for you. I wanted to go straight for your Commander, but my leader said it would be better to catch you; using you as bait, the others would come quickly enough." The Krogan got even closer, and for the first time she was glad she had her mask on. "You're lucky; I'd usually have some fun with you, but I won't try anything with a suit rat. Don't know what kind of nasty shit you have."

She had never been more scared in her life, but she still got angry at that last remark, and said "Fuck you bosh'tet."

He laughed, then punched her right in the rib, and she could feel it crack as pain shot through her body. She groaned, and he hit her again, making her fall to the ground. There wasn't anything she could do; she closed her eyes and waited for the next blow.

Then she heard a grunt, followed by the sound of a bone breaking. She opened one eye and almost sighed in relief, seeing Davin there. The Vorcha lay on the ground, whether alive or dead she didn't care. The Krogan was standing there, unmoving, and when she looked at Davin she understood why.

Davin looked…scary. He was glaring, his eyebrows making a V shape, but it was his eyes that did it; cold, but glowing as if on fire at the same time. The Krogan shook it off and roared, charging at Davin. Davin didn't even flinch; He simply waited until the last second and stepped out of the way. The Krogan started to turn around, but Davin was quicker. He grabbed the Krogans head and slammed it against the wall. He lifted the Krogans head back up, and slammed it against the wall 3 more times, and she saw the Krogan slump down, head bleeding heavily. Davin pulled out his pistol and placed it to the Krogans head.

"Stop Davin." She said, forcing herself to her feet. He turned to her, and for a second she was scared; his eyes were the same. But she saw them soften. "Why?"

"Because, if you kill him, more will come. Let him live and serve as an example of what happens if someone crosses you."

He looked back at the Krogan, and for a second she thought he was going to shoot anyway. But he stepped back, putting his pistol back into its holster. She sighed, relieved. She went to move and fell, felling pain shoot up her body. She suddenly felt herself being lifted up, and almost cried out when she realized that Davin had picked her up.

"WH-what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" He responded. "You fell. I'll carry you home, no arguments. Besides, you're really light."

She grunted, glad he couldn't see how much she was blushing. But as they were on their way, she decided it wasn't all bad being carried by a man.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Months started going by faster than Davin could believe. After Vara's run in with the Blood Pack, Davin decided to teach her how to defend herself. Every day they would start in the lab, learning all he could from her and helping her where he could. At about 3 o'clock they would go to an abandoned building, he would set up targets, and she would try to shoot them. He learned early on that her aim was terrible; at first she was lucky to hit 1 can. He told her how to hold her gun correctly, the posture she should take, even down to teaching her to take apart her gun and put it back together. She learned pretty fast, and only improved.

But his favorite part of the day was their hand-to-hand combat sessions. As Vara learned the hard way, you can't rely only on a gun; they run out of bullets, and it isn't hard to be disarmed. She wasn't the strong type, so Davin had her focus on speed and brains. Each species has advantages and disadvantages; for example, no human or Quarian is going to overpower a Krogan. But outsmarting them is simple, and they can't hurt you if they can't hit you.

Starting off, Vara's fighting was like her shooting; terrible. She couldn't throw a punch to save her life. He taught her how to keep a proper stance, how to swing a punch, how to keep your center of gravity, everything. Once she started learning all of this, she started to become deadly; but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't land a solid hit on him. Everyday, Davin could see her getting frustrated, swinging fast and never landing. It wasn't her fault; Davin's father was set on putting him in the military ever since he was born, so he had Davin take as many martial arts classes as possible, even alien martial arts. By 15, Davin could take on black belts and win.

Davin also felt him and Vara growing closer. He noticed her loosening up, joking more with the group, being less stubborn, and most importantly wanting to be around him more. He started looking at her differently as well, noticing how her suit fit her body very nicely. One day she was bent over, doing something that he couldn't remember, and when he walked in he couldn't help but admire the view. If Erik hadn't come and stood next to Davin, killing the moment, Davin probably would have stood there until she turned around and saw him. For once, he wasn't mad at Erik for being himself.

Today was a lazy day, and they were all in the living room, relaxing, when Erik spoke up. "Guys, we need to get out. We've been cooped up in here for far too long, and unlike the lovebirds over there, we don't have anything to do."

Davin rolled his eyes. "Well, what do you have in mind?" Han asked.

Erik smiled. "Well…we have been at Omega for a few months now and have yet to visit the Afterlife club."

Debra roared with approval. "I'm down. We haven't had some real fun in too long, and I've heard that Afterlife is a damn good night club."

"Just don't scare away the dancers Debra, and I'm down as well." Adam said, receiving a middle finger from Debra. One after another they all agreed, even Vara, and Davin gave in. "All right, let's go. Why not right?"

The team let its approval be known, and all went to get ready. Davin sighed, getting up as well. He saw Debra grab the girls and take them to one room; Davin shrugged it off as a girl thing. As he was on his way to the room, he suddenly had a thought. Erik had been giving him crap about Vara for the last few months non-stop. Davin smiled to himself.

Time for some payback.

.

.

"Well, I see now why they say the Asari are the most beautiful and sexy species." Erik said, admiring one of the Asari dancers as they drank. They had just gotten there a few minutes ago, and had to wait for the women. What better way to wait then to drink while you're waiting?

Davin shook his head at his almost drooling friend. Adam grunted. "Why, because they can wear skimpy clothes and dance?"

"No, because their whole species is female, and very good looking females at that." Was his answer. Davin saw Jacob shake his head and take another shot; out of all of them, Jacob was the one who drank the most, and the one who never threw up or got a hangover. No one knew why, but he had no limit. Davin could drink a good amount himself, but he could never match Jacob.

"A whole species of females, and still not one would touch you Erik." Debra said, the girls finally arriving. Debra actually dressed like a girl, wearing a shirt red dress with a tear drop collar to show off her cleavage, which was completely different then her usually heavy armor get up. Levie was wearing a long, beautiful black dress that didn't show cleavage like Debra's, but was tight and showed off her body well.

Davin spotted Vara and didn't believe what he saw at first. She was still in a body suit, but it was a different one; this one had more cloth, like a long dress that doesn't show off any skin. The hood she usually wore around her mask was larger and more elegant; it was all a beautiful deep ocean blue. Davin's favorite part was the mask that came with this suit was different; it was clearer, and Davin could actually see more than just her glowing eyes.

She turned to Davin, smiling, and he could actually see her smiling; she was beautiful. He didn't know what to say at first, then he got up, remembering that as Commander he wasn't allowed to say nothing.

"You all look stunning tonight." He said, walking over and hugging each in turn. When he was hugging Vara, he whispered "Especially you." He pulled back and grinned, seeing her blush; it was nice to actually see if he was affecting her or not. He thought that he was pretty smooth there.

They sat down and they got to drinking. Or at least they tried to, but Davin noticed Vara wasn't drinking. "There isn't any way you can drink Vara?"

She shook her head. "No, unless I had something I could pour it down. If I could somehow connect something to my mask, then I could pour it into my mask. But I don't have anything to do that…"

Erik laughed, and went to the bar. They waited, curious as to see what he had in mind. Sure enough, he came back, twirling a straw between his fingers, handing it to Vara. She stared at it as if it were an amazing discovery. "What is this device?"

Davin blinked while Erik laughed. "I call it…a straw! I don't know about you, but when you were describing what you needed, this came to mind."

She looked at Erik, smiling. "I think it will work, this…tube that you call a straw." With that, they all laughed and officially began their night of fun. They started off with a few shots, getting them loosened up and tipsy. Then Erik stood up. "There is music blasting, alcohol running through our veins, and I ask you this; why is no one dancing?"

They looked at each other, not able to answer the question. Davin himself was actually a good dancer, but he never liked dancing alone. It was then he realized what Erik was trying to do; he was trying to get Davin to dance with Vara.

Davin liked that idea. He stood up as well. "That is a good question my friend." Davin grinned, seeing his secret weapon walk into the club right then. "Well, I will answer you; you weren't dancing because your dancing partner just arrived. Hanna!" He yelled, waving his hand and getting their pilots attention. He saw the grin disappear off of Erik's face as if it had been slapped off. Everybody knew Hanna liked Erik, and that he liked her back; but he never had the guts to make a move on her, being the fact that she is gorgeous. As she approached, Davin saw she was wearing a medium length green dress with no sleeves, showing off just enough legs and cleavage to catch a mans eye, but not too much as to look skimpy. Hanna was beautiful; long, curly blond hair and stunning blue eyes, he actually saw a couple of heads turn as she walked over to them. She was Erik's weakness; he couldn't function with her around. Davin grinned. _Payback is a bitch, my best friend._

 __Davin gave her a hug when she got to them. "You look beautiful as always, Hanna." Hanna smiled. "Thank you Commander." She turned to Erik, and blushed a bit. "Hello Erik."

"H-h-hello H-Hanna." Erik managed to spit out, blushing a bright red. Davin laughed; he couldn't help it. "Well, now that you're here, we can answer Erik's question. We couldn't dance without everyone here Erik." He saw Erik glare at him, which only made Davin smile more. "Hanna, how would you like to dance with my good friend Erik?"

She started blushing as well. "Oh, well I… I wouldn't mind of course…if he wanted to…" Davin turned to Erik, his expression going from Happy to serious in a flash. "Of course Erik wants to dance with you…Right Erik."

Erik saw Davin's face and sighed, knowing he had been beaten. He took a deep breath and said "I would love to dance with you Hanna."

Hanna giggled, beaming at Erik, and Davin thought Erik was going to melt for a second. He regained his composure and stuck his arm our, a little awkwardly but he managed. She took it and they went to the dance floor. Davin looked at the rest of them and started laughing.

"Damn, remind me not to fuck with you, Commander." Debra said, laughing herself. She got up and offered Jacob a dance, who grunted in response and took her hand, meaning yes. Davin smiled and walked over to Vara, who had been giggling at Erik's suffering. He held his hand out and looked her right in the eye. "Would this beautiful Quarian like a dance?"

She blushed, but nodded as well, smiling and taking his hand. He led her to the dance floor and started dancing. He thought Vara would have trouble, never having drank before tonight, but she seemed fine; at least by the way she was dancing she did. They way she moved her hips made him lose all thought. After dancing for a bit she got closer.

"Davin…I need to ask you something." She said, still dancing. The way she said it almost made him stop, but he kept dancing. "Ask me anything." Was his response.

She was silent for a couple of minutes, than said, "Look, I know that, over these past few months, we have been…growing closer. I just need to know 2 things; one, if you truly like me, and two, if you are prepared for what liking me comes with."

He blinked, surprised by her. He knew she was outgoing and blunt, but even he didn't expect she would spell it out so easily. Maybe it was the alcohol, he didn't know. "What do you mean by the second part?"

She sighed. "A human and Quarian relationship would be…frowned apart by both species. I don't fully know how your family would react, but my entire family, maybe excluding my mother and aunt, would totally flip out about it. Word would spread, rumors would start, and my entire race might start shunning me…and you. I just want to know if you are prepared for that. If it is too much, then-"

"Vara." He said, stopping her. He placed his hands on her hips and got closer, until his face was only an inch away from her mask. "My entire life, everything has been chosen for me; my career, where I live, what I wear, everything is chosen by my father and my military. Now, I will be damned if I'm going to let anyone tell me who I should like, regardless of race or species." His eyes and tone softened. "I have been around many women throughout my career. I have had plenty of chances. Not a single woman has caught my eye or my attention like you have. You are beautiful, you are a fucking genius, and you are straightforward." He pulled her even closer, until his forehead was against her mask. She was blushing, but her eyes never left his. He continued. "So, to answer your question, yes I like you. And no one in this entire universe is going to convince me otherwise or push me away. Your species, shun me? Let them. I'm sometimes shunned by my own species; I could care less if I am shunned by people I don't even know. If anyone has anything to say about it, they can say it to me; when they wake up, maybe they will have more sense."

He kept looking at her fiercely, his eyes looking like they were on fire in the reflection on her mask. "There's your answer. I'm fully prepared. Do…you feel the same way?"

She pulled her head back a bit, and he could see her smiling. "Feel the same way? If I didn't need this mask, I would kiss you right now. Oh Keelah Davin, the way you said that…" She looked away, blushing. He smiled.

He thought he was pretty smooth there too.

.

Debra, Erik, and Hanna had sat back down, watching as Davin and Vara got enveloped into each other. "My god, it's like they are in their own little world." Hanna said, eyes shining as she watched them. "The way he looks at her would turn any woman on. I'm surprised she hasn't pulled him back to the house yet." Hanna looked at Erik and sighed. Debra chuckled; hopefully he was taking a few pointers from their Commander, who she couldn't have been more proud of. They all thought Davin would make his move tonight, but he exceeded all of their expectations. She was behind Davin when they were talking, and she was blushing just from hearing it. He was so smooth about it, you would think he had been with multiple women. Unlike Erik, who could barely say a sentence around Hanna. But some girls like the cute, shy type, so he might be in luck there. Debra would have a word with him just in case.

Debra smiled to herself, an evil smile, and Erik caught it. "Whoa, what was that smile about?"

Debra turned to both of them, still smiling. "If you think they are getting close now, just wait. They are going to dance until they tire, sit down and drink until they can't feel their faces...and go home to find that their blankets have disappeared. I guess I forgot to wash their blankets with the rest of the laundry today."

Erik raised his eyebrow. "But nobody did laundry today…" Then he got it, grinning along with her. "Oh, you're evil Debra. And I'm going to assume all of the extra blankets are being washed as well."

Debra shook her head, smiling. "Nope, they were sent to the ship for Dr. Alere and Hanna. It gets pretty cold at night in Omega.."

This time Hanna smiled. "Genius Debra. Next time I need help with a man, ill call you." Hanna winked.

On cue, Erik looked at her. "Wait, like, another man? Besides me?"

Both of the girls laughed, watching Davin and Vara while Erik sat there confused.

.

.

Davin glared at Debra, who was smiling too much. His head was spinning with the alcohol; he could think clearly, which he never understood, but when it came to moving, that's when you could tell he was drunk. He could tell you exactly how to put a gun together drunk, but couldn't physically do it himself.

 _Something's fishy about this._ Davin thought as Debra explained that both his and Vara's blankets were accidently not washed with the other laundry. That's funny, since everyone's laundry was done 2 days ago. But she wouldn't give in, so there was nothing he could do. He grunted and told her to go. She laughed, said goodnight, and left.

He lay down in his bed and closed his eyes, trying to sleep. He was glad he finally made a move on Vara; it had been a long time coming. He always thought she didn't like him because he was human. But it was the problems that came with him being human that made her hesitate, and he couldn't blame her.

"Davin?" Vara called, pulling him from his thoughts. He opened his eyes and looked over at her. "What is it V-Vara?"

"I'm….cold." Was all she said. He almost laughed; damn Debra, her plan was perfect. He smiled. _Thank you Debra._ "Then…come over here."

Silence for awhile, then. "I…don't know if I can make it."

He laughed, remembering that this was her first time being drunk. "I'll…come over there and get you." With that he rolled out of bed, slowly getting up. He didn't wobble too much, and he assumed he was able to do this. He walked over to her bed, almost falling along the way, and gently placed one arm under her head, the other under her curved legs. He was about to pick her up when he realized that their beds were the same size; he could just sleep in her bed instead. He laughed at himself and lay next to her. She instantly cuddled up to him, trying to steal his warmth.

"You…are very warm." She said, wrapping her legs around him. He nodded in response, turning and wrapping his arm around her. He had never cuddled before; why didn't anyone tell him how amazing it was?

"Hey…I need your help with something." She said, pulling him from his thoughts again. "What Vara?"

"Help me…remove my mask."

He blinked, almost not believing what he heard. "Are you s-sure it's ok to do that?"

She nodded. "I need to get used to you anyway. Ill get sick, but the more I do it, the more I'll adapt to the environment. Plus, when I finish my research and projects, I can cure my immune system and be able to be free of my suit."

Davin nodded, understanding, and helped her with her latches, until the mask came off with a quiet hissing sound. She pushed her hood back, and he could finally fully see her face and head. She had a weird design above her eyes, which he found fascinating. Her eyes glowed even brighter without the mask, and her hair was long; he guessed it would go past her waist. How she kept all of it in that suit he had no idea.

He looked into her eyes, and she looked back. They stayed like that for a long time, then he finally said screw it, leaning in and kissing her.

He had kissed a girl before, but it was nothing like this; He got lost in her lips, kissing slowly at first, then faster, sliding his tongue across her lips. She met his tongue with hers, and they made out for a long time, Davin running his hands through her long hair while she pulled his hair the entire time. It was when she took her hand and put it on her breast that he pulled away and shook his head. "No, not while you are drunk. We can wait for that."

She pouted. "Why? It's your fault, kissing me so roughly…you turned me on." She finished this by biting her lip, almost driving him insane; but he stayed strong. "Not tonight Vara, but don't you worry; later we will."

She pouted again, then surprisingly laughed and snuggled against him. He sighed in relief; if she really pushed towards it, he didn't know how much longer he could have held out. He kissed her on the forehead, and they both passed out, not noticing that their door was cracked open, and they were being watched.

They would know the next day, that's for sure.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

About a week later, Davin woke to find Vara sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the wall. He blinked, trying to get rid of his grogginess; something was off. Vara never waits on the edge of the bed, she always just wakes him up and tells him what she wants.

He got up on one arm, placing the other on her shoulder and leaning his head against her back. "Is something wrong Vara?" She didn't answer for a long time, making him worry a bit. She finally said, "I got a video call this morning."

He raised an eyebrow. "From who?"

"My mother." She said. "My mother and I were always on good terms, so we always talked to each other at least once a week. When she randomly video called me, I thought she was just worried because I hadn't called her in a couple of weeks…but that isn't it." She took a deep breath. "My father wants me to visit them on the fleet, see how my research is going."

Now he understood what was bothering her. From what he had heard, her father was a total ass. He put his legs over the side of the bed, sitting next to her. He put his arm around her and pulled her against him.

"Do you know what my father's last words to me were?" She said. He shook his head, so she continued. "He told me that I was a disappointment, and that he wished he had a son instead."

Davin felt himself get angry and forced himself to calm down. Instead, he smiled at her and said, "He sounds like a bosh'tet I think it was. So, when are we going?"

She looked at him, her eyes wide. "What do you mean us?"

He grinned. "Well, by official orders from Admiral Hackett, I can't let you go anywhere without me and my team escorting you personally. And, it's a chance to meet your parents. I'd need to sooner or later." He looked her in the eye. "Unless you're ashamed to let your parents know about me."

She pulled her head back, then gently nudged him with it, something she rarely does. "No, I'm not ashamed of you Dav…I just know my father. He will make it clear he doesn't approve of it."

Davin smiled, loving when she called him Dav. "And I will let him know that I don't care if he doesn't approve; Sorry, but I'm not intimidated by a man who calls his daughter a disappointment for not doing what he wants her to do."

She looked at him, and he guessed that she wished she could take her mask off. "You're awesome sometimes, you know that?"

He smiled. "Well, of course I know that." She hit his shoulder, laughing. He was glad he was cheering her up; he knew exactly how she felt. If he had somehow resisted his father and done something else, his father would have disowned him and called him a disappointment as well. He felt sorry for anyone whose father was similar to his.

She sighed, standing up. "Might as well get ready. Just wear your battle armor; that will at least impress him a bit."

He nodded, getting up to tell the rest of the team.

This was going to be interesting to say the least.

.

.

"Vara!" The small Quarian screamed, running at Vara and giving her a bear hug, making it impossible to breathe. Vara smiled, hugging her mother back. Her mother had always supported her no matter what she did; she was the opposite of Vara's father.

It had taken them awhile to get to the Quarian fleet, and most of the team stayed at the docking area; she made sure Bennie and Adam stayed at least. They were on a civilian ship, which was huge and she could tell by the looks in Davin's and Erik's eyes that this was their first time even seeing a Quarian ship. Only Davin and Erik went with her. Her mother looked at both of them, but kept her eye on Davin. "Please tell me he is the one you told me about sweetheart; and if he isn't, please introduce us."

She felt herself blush. "Mom!" She gasped, while Davin chuckled himself, blushing as well. He took her mothers hand and shook it. "I'm pretty sure I'm the one she was talking about, unless it was bad, then it was probably about my team mate Adam." Davin looked at Vara. "Though I'm curious as to what she told you about me, honestly."

"As a matter in fact, so am I." a familiar voice said, making Vara's blood get cold as she slowly turn towards her father. He was the exact opposite of her mother; tall and skinny, he was one of the tallest Quarians in the fleet, coming in at 6 foot 2. He walked over to them. To Vara's surprise, Davin and Erik put their feet together and saluted. It apparently surprised her father as well; he couldn't come up with anything to say so he nodded and simply said, "At ease."

Davin dropped his hand. "I am Davin Kecker, Commander in the Alliance Navy. This is my second-in-command, Erik Walkman. We have been charged with escorting your daughter and protecting her at all costs until her research is complete."

This also surprised her father, as her mother probably didn't tell him that her lab was attacked. "Really? Why is this?"

Vara spoke up this time. "I guess mother didn't tell you. My lab was attacked by Cerberus forces pretending to be a mercenary group. They killed every other scientist there, and if it wasn't for Commander Kecker here, who intercepted an emergency transmission that the scientist Hane broadcasted, I would probably be dead as well, and all of my research in the hands of Cerberus."

Her father just stood there for awhile, stunned, then looked at her mother, who shrugged. "Ya, I forgot to mention it. Sometimes it seems like you don't care."

Her father didn't respond to this; instead he stood up straight. "Well, I thank you for saving my daughter and keeping her safe. I am Zaem'Yara Vas Haareh, and this is my wife, Naela'Vas Haareh. We are honored to have you among the fleet." He turned to her. "So, how is your research going daughter?"

She flinched, wanting to throttle him for calling her his daughter. "Well, I had to restart nearly everything after the attack; they made sure to destroy everything that wasn't useful to them. And even though the Alliance is funding my research now, I have to put my lab in a spare room, next to a living room full of a bunch of sarcastic, smartass soldiers who don't know the meaning of quiet." She heard Erik laugh and saw Davin smile, something he was doing a lot more often. She blushed a bit, realizing that it was because of her, and continued. "But, besides these setbacks, I have successfully isolated the unknown factor from the mineral I found. Give it a few months and a few tests, I could manufacture a cure in pill or liquid form and ship them here easily, if everything goes right. I'm having trouble with this unknown factor though; it doesn't want to be cloned in anyway, and is giving me problems."

Her father nodded. "Do you have proof that this unknown factor actually works?"

Vara shook her head. "Not yet. The only Quarian there is me, and you know the Admirals won't accept data from a test I ran on myself."

He nodded again. "Well, as you know, there are plenty of Quarians here to test." It was her fathers attempt at telling a joke, and she wasn't surprised when no one laughed. Sensing the awkward moment, her mother said words that made her heart drop. "So, you told us about your research sweetheart; now tell us about Commander Kecker over here. He is the one you were telling me about, right honey?"

 _Oh Keelah._ She tried her best to keep her composure with her father's eyes on her, waiting for an answer. She sighed. "Yes mom, Davin is the one I was telling you about." Her father looked at her mother. "Honey, please tell us what Vara told you about Commander Kecker over here."

 _Here it comes._ She thought, and she was right. "Why, this is the handsome man who stole her heart apparently. And I can not blame her for letting him." Her mother said, no hesitation. Her father just looked at his wife, looked at Davin, then looked back at Vara's mother, not believing what he was hearing.

"Well…" She heard Davin start, and she almost groaned. _Please don't say anything cheesy._ If he read her mind, then he was probably laughing inside his as he said, "I wouldn't say I stole her heart; it's more like I gave her mine."

She heard Erik start laughing uncontrollably, and she glared at Davin, forgetting he couldn't tell with her mask on. Her mother giggled loudly, doing little half jumps; she does it whenever she is excited. "Oh Keelah, he is cute! You better keep him Vara."

She barely heard her mother; she was watching her father, and her heart sunk as she could feel his anger growing. She didn't need to see his face to know he was about to blow up. "You…you guys are joking right? I hope your joking." Her father said, slow and commanding.

Davin stepped forward, and she saw his demeanor change into the one he had the night she got jumped by the blood pack; no smile, eyes cold and soldier like. "Well, I sure wasn't joking Vas Haareh, and I don't think Vara was either."

 _Oh shit._ She could almost see sparks flying between the two of them. They were both soldiers, and she didn't know what would happen. Her mother noticed it as well, and crossed her arms at Vara's father.

"So now my daughter is with….a human." Her father said slowly, mulling it over. Then he sighed. "You seem to be able to find unlimited ways to disappoint me, daughter."

She felt sadness and anger build up inside of her at the same time, bringing tears to her eyes. She looked at the ground until she felt a strong hand grip her shoulder. She looked up at Davin, who was staring her father down, eyes on fire. "I could say the same about you, Vas Haareh."

Her father looked at Davin. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, I was loud and clear." He said, stepping straight into her fathers face, and even though he was only 2 inches taller, it looked like he towered over her father. "Her, a disappointment? I disagree. She is the smartest woman I have ever met. You are the disappointment. A father who can't get over himself and accept what his daughter wants, a father who belittles his only child, a father who tells their daughter that he wished he had a son; you are a disappointment as a father, and as a man. How dare you call her your daughter after everything you have done, and then you have the gall to say she disappointed you again?" She saw her father step back, unprepared for Davin's rage. Vara could only stare at the man defending her fiercely with awe. _The way he is standing up for me…Keelah, it's hot._

Davin wasn't done yet. "My father is much like you, except I didn't have a choice; if I disagreed with him, he didn't say he was disappointed in me, he beat me until I obeyed his wishes. So, I have little tolerance for men like you. If we weren't on your fleet, I would kick your ass Vas Haareh. But I have respect for the Admirals who run this fleet and for Vara's mother. But I never want to hear you say those words to her again; if I hear about it, you are in a world of hurt. I hope I am very clear in this." With that Davin turned around and marched off, probably going to cool his head.

Her father stood there for a few moments, shaking, then turned around and stormed off in the opposite direction. Vara looked at her mother. "Oh Keelah, that didn't go like I wanted it too….I hope you're not mad at Davin…"

To her surprise, her mother laughed. "Mad? Why would I be? I'd be mad if he did nothing. A man is supposed to defend his woman, it doesn't matter against whom. You don't know this, but your father had a very similar conversation with my father." Vara blinked. Her father…did the same thing?

Her mother laughed again. "I'll go make sure he doesn't sic the military onto Commander Kecker." Her mother looked her dead in the eye. "I like him, Vara. Keep him. He is a good man…not to mention damn good looking too." With that her mother followed after her father.

Vara sighed, then bit her lip; she still remembered how Davin stood up for her. _I need to find him…now._ She turned around and walked off in the direction Davin went, hearing Erik sigh and say, "I wish multiple women would say I'm good looking."

.

Davin took a deep breathe, inhaling as much cigarette smoke as he could before releasing it, hating the taste. He had gotten into cigarettes during his first deployment, and got addicted to it; after the battle of Golden Roses, he cut down a lot, smoking a cigarette only when he was really stressed, or when he talked to his father. He stared at the cancer stick, hating it and loving it at the same time.

He had finally cooled down enough to regret going berserk on Vara's father. _She is probably so pissed at me right now._ He sighed, taking another drag and seeing Vara and Erik approach him. Erik whistled. "Damn, you get pissed off that badly Davin?"

He nodded, going to take another drag from the cigarette until he felt a hand grab his arm gently and stop him. He looked to see it was Vara. "I don't know what those are, but I'm guessing since I rarely see you smoke them that they aren't good for you." She leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "What would you rather have; that thing, or me."

Davin was so thrown off by the question that he dropped the cigarette without noticing. "Wait, what-" was all he got out before she grabbed his hands and pulled him with more force than he knew she was capable of. He followed her, not knowing what was going on or where they were going, confused as could be. "Be gentle with him!" Erik yelled out before they turned a corner. She dragged him along for awhile, turning a few more corners until she came to the room she was looking for. She opened it and pulled him inside. The light turned on when they entered, blinding him temporarily, and he felt her push him onto the bed. His eyes adjusted, and he saw her press a few things on the door, and the hologram circle went from 'open?' to 'locked.'

 _This is either going to be very good, or very bad._ He thought to himself as she turned around. Her hands went up, taking her mask off quickly, her face blushing as she smiled an evil smile. "Vara, what are you-" He began to say, but she put a finger to his lips, shutting him up. He watched as she unstrapped and unzipped her body suit, and his eyes grew wide when it fell off of her body, showing him her naked body.

 _Oh fuck, if she comes at me like that…_ He didn't even get to finish the thought, as she came over to him, smiling still, and grabbed his hair. She pulled it hard, making him growl. Then pulled him into a kiss as she climbed onto his lap, making him lose all thought as she grabbed his hands and slid them along her body slowly, turning him on so much he lost control for a second, biting her lip and squeezing her breast hard, making her gasp and moan. He pulled his head away, trying to regain his thoughts. "I-I thought you would be mad at me…."

She giggled, running her hand through his hair and beginning to grind against him, making it hard for him to think again. "Mad? How could I be." She pulled his chest armor and undershirt off, almost ripping it in her impatience, then started kissing down his neck, making him shiver as she whispered "The way you stood up for me…was so hot. I want you."

He was finding it harder and harder to argue with her. When she bit his neck gently, scratching down his back, he gave in. He slid his hands down her back and cupped her ass, rolling her over suddenly, making her yelp. He grinned at her; she was dead wrong if she thought she was going to have complete control that easily. Before he lost all control he asked, "Are you sure?"

She responded by biting his neck again while grinding against him. It was a good enough answer for him. He helped her pull the rest of his armor off and his pants, then grinned at her again.

"As you wish."

.

.

Erik had just refilled his cup of water when he finally saw Davin walk over to him, though he shouldn't say walk; it was more like a penguin walk than anything, his legs spread out, trying his best to not let his thighs touch. Davin finally made it over to Erik and sat down next to him. Erik looked at his omni-tool, then back up to Davin.

"3 hours. Now that is the longest conversation I've ever heard of."

Davin grunted in response. Now that Erik got a closer look, he could see that Davin looked exhausted, with his lips swelling slightly. Erik chuckled at the sight.

"Was it that good?"

Davin didn't respond at first, then slowly nodded. Erik smiled. "I can tell; you look like shit. Her first time I'm guessing. But 3 hours for it? Did she want you to role play or something?"

He shook his head, muttering, "Not just one time."

"What do you mean?" Erik said, taking a drink of his water. He regretted it right away, because Davin said, "four times." And Erik spit out his water, getting his combat armor wet and staring at Davin.

"Four times!" Erik said, and Davin confirmed it again by nodding. Erik couldn't believe it; the woman's first time, and she wanted to go three more times? "I've never heard of a virgin doing that…"

"Oh, it was her first time." Davin said. "Right as I entered her, she let me know just how much it hurt." He pulled the collar of his shirt down, and Erik flinched. He saw a couple of bite marks, but one on his chest was damn near down to the bone. She almost took a chunk of his peck off.

"Ouch." Was all Erik could say, then he roared with laughter. "Four times. Damn, she's a keeper." Grinning, Erik held his fist out. "That's my boy."

Davin laughed, bashing his fist against Erik's.

"What's all the commotion over here?" Erik heard, and he froze, seeing Vara's mother approach them. Davin wasn't hiding the fact that he had sex very well; he wasn't wearing his combat armor, he was having an allergic reaction, and he even smelled of it. When Vara's mother got over to them, she glanced at Davin, and Erik could she that she knew right away. To his surprise, she laughed loudly. "Oh you poor kid, did she drag you to a room and make you deflower her?

Erik had just begun to take a drink of his water again, and again he regretted it, spitting it out again, laughing. He set the drink down; he apparently wasn't going to be able to actually drink it anytime soon.

Even Davin chuckled. "Very perceptive Vas Haareh. No use in hiding it huh."

She shook her head. "No, not from me anyway. She doesn't realize it, but she is just like me. I usually know what's going on with her."

Erik saw Davin's face grow serious. "Then can I ask you a question, Vas Haareh?"

"Call me Naela, and yes you can." She saw his face change as well.

Davin seemed to mull it over, then started off with, "You can obviously see how my body's reacting to her. She should be the same way, right?"

Naela nodded. "Even worse in fact. Why?"

Davin looked at the ground, and Erik could see that something was bothering him. "Well, this is the first time we went all the way, but not the first time we fooled around. She said she would get sick the first time…but I saw no sign of sickness in her. Then, just now, before I left her in the room, I have a slight rash running from my thighs almost to my stomach, but she has…nothing."

Naela's eyes grew wide. "Are you saying…"

Davin nodded. "I think she has already been testing her research on herself, and has had some success."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "But that can't be; she would have told you if she had any headway on it."

Davin slowly shook his head. "I don't know…maybe she thinks if she completes it, she won't be able to see me or som-"

He never got to finish, as a loud alarm went off. Erik jumped up, gripping his assault rifle. "What does that mean!" He yelled over the alarm.

He saw Naela's eyes grow wide threw her mask. "Geth attack."

Erik's blood ran cold. He had heard plenty of stories about the Geth, and he didn't like any of them.

"Davin!" He heard from down the hall, and saw an interesting sight; Vara, now back in her body suit, running as fast as she could with Davin's guns in one hand and what looked like a katana in her other hand.

She got to Davin and gave him his stuff. He quickly strapped his pistol to his side and slung his rifle over his shoulder. Then he took the sword from her, drawing it slowly from its sheath and gasping at it. It was beautiful, with dark green and brown running through it.

"Remember when I asked you about your sword?" Vara yelled. Davin nodded, still gaping at the sword. "Well, I had my aunt get this made for you. It's made from some of the strongest metals in the galaxy; this will cut through almost anything, even enemy armor and shields."

Davin looked up at her, then pulled her into a big hug, making Naela giggle. Then he pulled away. "Where are the Geth attacking?"

Vara pulled up her omni-tool, pressed a few buttons, and gasped. "…The docking area."

Davin's eyes grew wide. "My teams there!" Davin tied the sword sheath to his belt and laid his hands on Vara's shoulders. "Vara, I need you to get somewhere where you can see what's going on; I don't want to go in there completely blind."

She looked like she was going to argue, then gave in, nodding. He kissed her mask and turned to Erik.

"Let's go."

.

Davin sprinted towards the docking bay, forgetting that he had a rash between his thighs that burned like fire, not caring that he had no combat armor or shields on. His only thought was that his team was in danger, and he had to get there fast. He hit a turn so fast he actually had to run along the wall to stop himself from hitting it face first. Erik, who had combat armor on, couldn't do all that, but was keeping up well. The alarm just kept going off, making Davin's head hurt.

He got to the door, hitting the hologram circle until it opened, and they both ran forward into the gunfire. It was chaos; Geth were everywhere, easily keeping the Quarian soldiers at bay. Davin sprinted to the nearest cover he could find, sliding down to avoid any bullets coming his way and getting up to the cover as fast as he could. He popped up, spraying his rifle to provide Erik cover fire until he got to the cover as well. As he was up, he saw the rest of his team holding off the Geth as best as they could, having knocked over anything they could for cover. He saw a hole in the wall, and more Geth just kept pouring in like angry ants. He ducked as they returned fire, being more careful because he was vulnerable without any armor or shields.

He heard a hissing in his ear, and then Vara connected. "Davin! The Geth have ships just outside the next room. They are dropping the Geth through there. You'll have to hold out until out ships can either drive them away or destroy them. Be careful of the Hunters! They can-"She cut off, and he only heard a buzzing sound. What was she trying to say? He went to look out of cover and immediately put his head back down, bullets flying over his head and into their cover.

"We are in a pretty fucked up situation here!" Erik yelled, smiling. Davin ran different strategies through his head, trying to think of the perfect one. They were heavily outnumbered, had no grenades, and were being pinned down. What Erik said was an understatement.

He was going to fire blindly when he heard a sound to his left, which sounded way to close. He whipped his head around and saw nothing. He was about to look back when he saw movement. He reacted fast, swinging his gun around, but the cloaked hunter was ahead of him, grabbing his gun and kicking him in the chest, knocking his gun out of his hand. He got knocked to the ground, feeling all of the air leave his lungs. As he coughed, trying to regain his breath, he saw the hunter fire his shotgun into Erik's shield. Erik's shield absorbed the attack, but barely; it wouldn't be able to handle another shot. Out of options, Davin did the only thing he could think of.

Remembering his martial arts training, he got up, bent his knees, and drew his sword; the sword sliding out of the sheath like it was made of water. The blade flashed, slicing through the Geth Hunter with almost no resistance. The Hunter became visible, electricity sparking everywhere and an annoying buzzing noise escaping it as the top half of it slid off of the bottom half. He saw it hit the ground, sending sparks flying, and the Geth's single electronic eye went dark.

He stared at the sword, amazed. He needed to thank this aunt of Vara's; any sword that could cut through today's armor and shields was worthy of praise. He sheathed it, picking his rifle back up and getting back behind cover, receiving looks from Erik. He heard doors opening, and saw reinforcements coming through the doors. _About time._

Feeling more confident, Davin stood up to fire when a huge explosion rocked the ship, sending him back to the ground. He hit it hard, banging the back of his head and seeing stars. As he was slowly getting back up, he heard his ear piece hiss again.

"-Avin! Can you hear me?" Vara said.

"Yes I can. What the fuck was that?" Davin replied, pressing his fingers to the ear piece.

"That was the Geth ships being destroyed; they are cut off. They have no more reinforcements; kill them!"

Davin smiled at the good news, getting up and firing. He hit on dead in the head, seeing it explode with sparks flying everywhere. They were finally being driven back, their backup destroyed. Davin kept firing, taking out as many as he could until there was nothing but bits and pieces of them left. Davin stood up, panting; his chest hurt from the Hunter and now that his adrenaline was wearing off, he could feel his rash burning again.

He saw his team getting up, and sighed in relief when he saw they were ok. No injuries at all as far as he could see; he should never have doubted them. He walked over to them, clasping Jacob on the shoulder. "Good to see you guys are still alive."

Jacob nodded. "It is. Never fought Geth before; hard to fight something that doesn't feel pain nor fear. Thought we were in trouble for a second." Then he squinted at Davin. "Damn Commander, what happened to you?"

He had forgotten that his face was having an allergic reaction as well, scratching the back of his head and blushing a bit. "I…I think it's an allergic reaction to…something?"

Jacob frowned, not buying it, but continued on his way, letting Davin sigh. He had enough of today; he just wanted to go back to bed with Vara and sleep.

 _Writers note: I'm sorry for taking so long to start posting chapters again. I ran into a severe writers block and had financial troubles. I will do my best to start posting more often. Thank you for reading!_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"A mission? It can't wait until Vara finishes her research? She tells me that she's almost done." Davin said to his omni-tool, showing a video of Admiral Hackett on the other end. He frowned, pacing back and forth as he talked. Normally he loved getting new missions; he was usually bored when he wasn't on a mission. But, since Vara had not completed her research yet, that meant either leaving her here alone in Omega, which was a bad idea, or taking her with them into a mission in which anything could happen, which was also a bad idea.

It had been a few months since Davin got into it with Vara's father. Things had been quiet, too quiet for Omega; He had been paranoid since the Blood Pack tried to kidnap Vara, but he knew that if he restricted her from doing what she wanted it would only cause problems. The only thing he forced was that she couldn't leave the building without one of them at all times. He also made sure it wasn't always him that went with her; He was a commander, so dating him was like taking on his team as friends as well. He made sure she got time with each one of them, even Adam.

"No, it can't wait Commander." Admiral Hackett said, pulling Davin from his thoughts. "We think these new terrorist may have ties to Cerberus. If they do, we need them stamped out and taken care of. And, since you are the only unit we currently have on Omega, it makes sense to send you to deal with a problem on Omega."

He sighed, knowing that the admiral was right. "And what do we do with Vara sir? It's a danger to leave her here, but also a danger to take her with us."

"I leave that decision up to you Commander." The admiral said, not helping at all. "I will say this; would you rather leave her behind by herself, or take her with you where your entire team can protect her?"

Davin hesitated. He never told the admiral of his romantic interest in Vara, but the admiral was a smart man, and most likely figured it out for himself. Davin slowly nodded. "Alright sir, send me the details. Me and my team will take care of it as soon as possible. Over and out." With that he ended the transmission, shaking his head. Looks like he has to take Vara with them to fight terrorist. He walked towards their little hide out, knowing that at least the team will be happy to have a new mission.

.

.

"Finally, some action!" Vara heard Debra yell, grinning from ear to ear. Vara was surprised when Davin called all of them into the living room and told them the news. It made sense, since the problem was on Omega. Why send extra troops out when you already have troops there, ready to go?

Things had been going well between her and Davin; they rarely argued, and he was an immense help with her research. But ever since they visited her parents, she noticed that Davin acted a little weird every now and then, as if he was keeping something from her.

 _What if he knows?_ He couldn't know, she had done a very good job hiding it. She felt bad for not telling him, but she had to test it, to make sure. The research she had Davin help with is research she had already completed. She didn't want to admit it, but she feared that once she was done, they would take him away from her, the first person she had ever felt anything towards besides her mother.

"Took long enough. I was getting bored." Adam said, catching her attention. Davin opened his omni-tool, pressing a few holographic buttons. All of their omni-tools beeped at once, even hers, which surprised her. "I just sent all of the details to your omni-tools. We will leave at dawn tomorrow. Make sure to study the layout of the area; we don't want any more surprises than we can handle."

They all nodded, saying, "Yes Commander!" and went to get everything ready, check equipment and such. Vara walked up to Davin, who placed his hands on her hips.

"I'm going with huh." She said, slowly sliding one finger up and down his chest. She could tell that he was stressed about this.

He nodded. "Yes, better than leaving you here alone. Who knows what would happen then." He looked away, proving her right.

"Well, I would have wanted to come along anyway. This way we don't have to argue about it." She said, smiling even though he couldn't see. She pulled him over to the couch and sat him down, standing behind him and rubbing his shoulders, which was a huge knot of muscle.

"I know, but I'm still worried. I might be teaching you how to defend yourself, but you are no soldier. Anything could happen."

She felt his muscles tense up even more; He sure let himself get stressed easily. "Relax Dav, worrying about it won't help at all. You need to have a clear head for tomorrow. I will be fine; I have you and your amazing team protecting me. Plus, I'm not as helpless as I was a few months ago. I will be fine."

"I guess your right." He said, and she finally felt his shoulders relax, something he sorely needed. "Just don't do anything rash; stay in the middle of us at all times and keep your head down. Only shoot when I either give you the command, or you feel your life is threatened. We will all have shields, but the enemy might as well, putting us on equal ground."

She giggled, loving when he went all commander on her. He raised an eyebrow at her, not as amused as she was. "You were listening at least, right?"

"Yes Commander." She said, doing her best attempt at a salute. He sighed, then she heard him chuckle to himself. "What will I do with you?"

She smiled, leaning closer to his ear. "When we go to bed tonight, I'll let you decide what to do with me."

That shut him up. She giggled, happy that she could still achieve this much, and continued rubbing his shoulders, thinking she was prepared for tomorrow.

She was nowhere near prepared for what happened the next day.

.

.

Davin swung his gun to the right, positive he saw movement. He lowered it, seeing nothing and frowning. He didn't like this, and his uneasy feeling wasn't getting any better.

They had left at dawn, as planned, forming a wedge with Vara in the middle of it. The closer they got to the place where the terrorist were supposedly hiding out, the less and less people they saw. When they were less than a mile from their destination, they saw nobody in sight. To be safe, Davin sent Han to scout out the path ahead. He came back, saying he didn't see anything, but he felt like someone was watching him.

"Alright team, we need to assume that they already know we are here. Keep your eyes peeled; look at windows and rooftops. I don't want to be ambushed, at least not easily."

They all nodded, and he continued, looking for the slightest movement. One of the easiest things the eyes picked up was movement; It didn't matter how camouflaged you were, if you moved, the eye would most likely catch it.

Besides the one time he thought he saw movement, he saw nothing else the entire march. The closer he got to the place, the more he felt like this was a huge trap and they were just going to waltz right into it. He scanned the entire area, wanting to pick up anything, any evidence that someone was here before. He saw nothing so far.

The path went suddenly to the left. He stopped at the corner, holding his hand up to halt the rest of his team. He took a deep breathe and swung out from the corner, aiming his gun at chest level. He saw no one, and gestured them to continue.

They didn't see a soul the entire time. They finally got to an open gate, which led into a main square where he was told the terrorists had taken over, but he still did not see anyone. Where were they? He had thought they would have been ambushed awhile ago; he saw plenty of opportunities when they were in small alleys and could easily be hit from both sides.

But they were left unchallenged the entire time, and he did not like it. He took a few deep breaths, calming himself down, and went through the gate slowly, his team following him. He scanned the area again, not seeing anyone, but seeing plenty of places where people could hide; they could easily be surrounded in seconds. This was an obvious trap, but they had no choice but to go forward.

What happened next Davin didn't remember very well, even with eidetic memory. All he knows is that he was walking when he heard Vara scream something. He turned his head, taking a single step forward and was about to ask what it was. But then there was a huge sound, and he felt as if he got thrown by an invisible force, and hit the ground hard, blacking out.

.

.

Vara, being right behind Davin, saw it at the last second; the ground, which was perfectly flat all around, looked like something was sticking out of the ground right where Davin was stepping. She didn't know what it was, but knew it wasn't anything good. Davin was too focused on the buildings themselves, and wasn't paying attention. She screamed. "DAVIN, STOP!" But it was too late; as he turned towards her, he took one more step, and stepped on what turned out to be a land mine.

First came the sound, a huge explosion that hit her and made her ears ring even through her mask. Next, a split second later, came the shockwave, which knocked her light frame completely off of her feet. She hit the ground, feeling the air flee from her lungs. She got up on one arm, struggling to get a breath while her ears rang, blocking out most of the noise around her. She heard noises, but they sounded far off.

After she was able to breathe again, she looked up, and saw what they were all looking for; the terrorist, as if waiting for someone to step on the land mine, came pouring our of every building around them, charging them. Most of them had only knives and weird alien swords, getting mowed down easily by the rest of the team, who had already recovered and was trying to get to Davin. But she saw a few of them higher up with weapons, and she saw one aim at Davin himself.

She got up, staggering but managing to keep herself upright, and ran over to Davin, jumping on top of him just as the terrorist fired. She thought it would hit her, but she saw it deflect off of her shield; while Davin's shield was most likely destroyed by the mine, hers was still intact. She sighed in relief when she saw the rest of the team get to them, forming a circle of shields around them.

"What…happened?" She heard. She looked down and saw that Davin was awake amazingly. He was still in shock, so for right now he wasn't feeling any pain. She finally took a good look at him, seeing what the damage was, and gasped at what she saw.

The leg that had stepped on the mine was completely gone, almost all the way to his hip. His right leg wasn't much more fortunate, being only about 5 inches longer than the other. The explosion seemed to have cauterized most of his veins and arteries, as he wasn't bleeding too much. She looked up and almost vomited when she saw chunks of his legs here and there.

"Don't worry about it Dav." She said, forcing it down; throwing up in the suit was a horrible experience. She pulled her smg off of her hip, tears welling up in her eyes, and screamed, shooting at anything that wasn't a friend. She wasn't too accurate, letting her rage cloud her judgment, but still managed to hit a few, seeing them fall and bleed.

"We have to move him! We are to open here!" She heard Erik yell, taking up his role as second-in-command. She nodded, putting her smg back on her hip and putting her arms under Davin's armpits, attempting to pull him up. He was starting to get out of shock, starting to say, "Where are my le-"When she started to drag him back.

She wasn't able to completely pick up his body, so she had to drag him, his stumps scrapping across the ground. When she moved, she heard him scream in pain, almost making her stop. She didn't faze though, and kept dragging, knowing that she was hurting him, but knowing if they stayed there they were all dead. The team started to follow slowly, keeping their circle around Davin and Vara.

"Holy shit, IT FUCKING HURTS!" She heard Davin scream. "Just try to ignore it for now. We are almost there." She said, lying to him; they were nowhere near out of trouble yet.

He started patting his body, confusing her until he said, "Where is my gun!"

"I have no id-"She started to say, but Erik interrupted her, saying, "Here."And handing him a pistol. She watched in amazement as Davin started firing at the enemies higher up. Both legs destroyed, probably in the most pain he has ever been in, and yet he can still aim and fire a weapon.

She almost groaned in relief when they past the gate, and Adam broke the circle, taking Davin and throwing him over his shoulder. "We need to retreat! Fuck this mission." Erik roared, and they started jogging away, still keeping Davin and Vara in the middle. She finally let herself cry, glad that he had such an amazing team to save his ass.

.

.

She paced back and forth in the lobby, growing more impatient with each passing minute. She had been a nervous wreck ever since they brought him to this hospital, and that was a few hours ago. It didn't help that it was a hospital in Omega, and she didn't really trust people here, let alone their doctors. But the worse part was the fact that she felt so helpless; there was nothing she could do but wait and hope that everything went ok.

"What's taking so long? It's not like he needs heart surgery." Adam said, the only one out of the entire team that was angry instead of sad. Erik sighed, glaring at Adam. "We don't know all the damage that he took. We only saw his legs, but what if he has internal injuries? I'd rather them take a long time and make sure than half ass it and he ended up dying anyway."

She kept pacing, not sure what else to do, until she heard something that made her stop in her tracks. "You all need to stop worrying and relax. It won't do Commander Davin any good to have you all fighting."

She turned, amazed, to see that it was Bennie who spoke. The rest of the team was like-wise staring at him. The entire time she had been with this team, she had never heard Bennie actually speak words; just laughs and giggles. To hear him speak was somehow scary.

"It's been a long time Ben." Jacob said, smiling. He turned towards Vara. "Davin told you he had the second highest I.Q. on the team right? Well Bennie has the highest; he was considered a genius. But his family got killed in an accident, and he went a little…crazy. It's rare, but every now and then he speaks clearly. Whenever he does, I suggest you listen."

Vara just nodded, still amazed. Bennie smiled, putting her at ease. "I blame myself for this. What kind of explosive's expert can't see a land mine? It wasn't even cleverly hidden. We were just so preoccupied by the fact that we had not seen anyone, plus most of the time everything is kind of a blur to me. But do not fret; our commander will pull through. He is strong, and his shield took most of the impact, saving all but his legs from damage. He will pull through, and we will get through this."

Surprisingly, Vara felt a lot better after hearing his words. "Thank you Bennie." She said. She was almost sad when his response was to giggle.

"It's sad. His moments of clarity get shorter and shorter." Jacob said, his smile gone. They all jumped when the doors opened, and the doctors and nurses came into the lobby. "Anybody here for our patient, Davin?"

They all went over to the doctor, who sighed. "He will pull through. It was a pain, but we took care of his legs. He will make a full recovery, although his military career is over."

Good news and bad, but she was just glad he was alive. "When can we see him?" She asked, hopeful.

"Most likely tomorrow, after he is transferred to earth." She heard a voice say behind her. They all turned, and she saw everyone quickly put their feet together and salute. It was an old man, with two soldiers to each side. She didn't know what to do so she bowed her head awkwardly.

"You're transferring him, Admiral Hackett?" She heard Erik say, and realized this was the admiral that gave her the funding she needed, and let Davin keep protecting her when the rest of the military wanted to take her research. He smiled, his face old but his eyes still bright blue, catching everything. "Yes. He will be taken back to earth, where we can see about solutions. If I have learned anything about Commander Davin, it is that he won't just sit there and do nothing. He will want prosthetic legs, and he will want them as soon as possible."

His smile disappeared. "But he most likely won't be able to be in the military anymore. He will be honorable discharged."

She felt crushed by this news. Hearing it from a doctor was one thing, but hearing it from Davin's commanding officer was completely different; his whole life had been devoted to the military. What would he do without it?

"So, you must be the Quarian Commander Davin has told me about." He said, extending his hand to her, surprising her. "My name is Steven Hackett, but you can just call me Steven. I am sorry about what happened; Davin has been under my command for a long time, and I see him as a second son. This news will crush him, so it's your job to make sure he doesn't give up."

She took it, shaking it. She didn't really know what to say so she said, "I'll do my best Steven."

"That's all any of us can really do." He said. He turned to the rest of Davin's team. "As of right now, Erik Walkman is in charge. Commander Davin will be transferred tonight, so I suggest you pack up and meet us there. You can get some sleep on the ship."

They all saluted him. He returned the salute and took his leave, his guard following him. Everything was happening so fast that it was making her head hurt. She felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to see that it belonged to Erik. "Come on, we have a lot of packing to do. We will see him tomorrow."

She nodded, going with him. She couldn't imagine how mad he would be once he woke up, but she would find out.

.

.

Davin was pissed. He kept glaring at the empty space where his legs should be, thinking that if he stared long enough they would appear, but no such luck. He woke up in a hospital bed, surrounded by Vara and his team. He had to sit there while they told him that he lost his legs, and that his military career was over. He remembered the leg part; there wasn't much he forgot, having an eidetic memory and all. The only part he didn't really remember was the explosion itself, and he was sure he didn't want to remember it.

"God damn they itch." He said, scratching at his stumps. He knew that if it wasn't for the drugs that were currently getting pumped into his veins that he would be screaming in pain right now. But somehow, even though he couldn't feel pain, he could feel the itching feeling, and it was driving him crazy. He felt Vara smack his hand away for the fifth time, glaring at him. "Stop scratching, you'll rip your stitches."

He grunted, forcing his hand to stay at his side. He hated not being able to get up and move around; He was glad he lived and all, but he was never very good at sitting still. He heard Erik sigh. "They said that they were going to discuss options for prosthetics today. Since you were in the military, it will be completely paid off."

"I don't really care about expenses." He said. He had always been good at saving his money, and wasn't poor by any account. He sighed, feeling Vara wrap her fingers around his. He squeezed her hand, glad that she was here. "I hope I didn't scare you, screaming and bleeding all over the place."

She shook her head. "No, I was more scared for your life. Though there was one second where…" She didn't continue, and he didn't pry; she went through enough seeing his legs get blown off. He turned towards the rest of his team. "So how long do you guys have to see me before getting deployed somewhere else?"

Debra smiled. "The admiral's exact words were 'you all are on guard duty.'"

Davin chuckled. "Sly old dog. There's a reason he's my favorite superior officer." He looked at each member that used to be on his team. "You should all take a break. Go get something to eat. As you can see, I'm not going anywhere."

They all nodded, getting up and leaving. To his surprise, Levie stopped at his bed side, placing her hand over his and saying, "I hope you recover quickly commander." Before leaving the room.

"Well damn, miracles do happen." Erik said, the only one besides Vara to stay. Davin nodded, surprised but glad. "So, how does it feel to be the commanding officer for once?" He said, looking at his best friend.

Erik scratched his head, frowning. "It doesn't feel like I'm a commander at all. I didn't earn this; I only got it because you got injured."

"Don't feel that way. You were my second command for a reason; you were the next one to lead should something happen to me. I picked you because you're a damn good soldier; it had nothing to do with the fact that you are my best friend."

Erik nodded, and Davin knew it didn't really matter; Erik would always see him as the commander. Davin was smiling, happy besides what had happened, when he heard a voice that wiped the smile off of his face.

"Davin…son…" He turned to see his father standing in the doorway, and knew his day was about to get worse.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"So that's Davin's dad?" Vara asked, watching Erik as he bought food from the hospitals cafeteria. Erik nodded, looking grim, and went to a table, Vara following him. She was tempted to take her mask off and try the food humans eat to see if she would get sick. But she was still keeping how well her tests were going from Davin, and a Quarian taking off her mask and eating food would get everyone's attention. She sighed, deciding to tell him as soon as he calms down from meeting his dad.

She frowned, remembering the look on Davin's face. It was a look she wasn't used to; no anger, no sadness, just a numb look, as if he was a statue. It was unusual for her to see Davin like that. He's the kind of guy to take charge of the situation and face it head on. But with his dad, it was like he just escaped inside himself, ignoring all the emotions he had to be feeling.

"Let's not take to long." Erik said, pulling Vara from her thoughts. She was also not used to seeing Erik mad. "I don't want to leave Davin alone with his dad for too long."

"Why?" She said, curious. "What do you think would happen?"

"Who knows? Davin hasn't seen his dad in years, and he has changed a lot in those years. He could forgive his father, but I highly doubt that; a lot of pent up rage there. Most likely his dad will say something to piss Davin off, and Davin will strangle him right then and there. When you know a bomb is ticking, you don't sit around to see how long it takes to go off."

Vara nodded. Then she laughed, making Erik look confused. "What?"

"You said that we shouldn't take too long to eat our food."

"And?"

Instead of words, she simply tapped her mask, and Erik caught it, laughing at himself. She almost sighed out loud in relief; they had all been through too much recently, and it was nice to relax. They stood up, Erik dumping his leftover food into the trash bin before they headed back towards Davin's room. Vara's mind was racing as they headed back. Did Davin tell his dad about her? They didn't seem to get along, so she doubted it. How would his dad react? Like hers? She was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't hear Erik yell at he to stop, and ran face first into a glass door, her whole face ramming against her mask. She fell back on her butt, wishing she could rub her nose at least.

She got really upset as Erik helped her up. _This damn suit does nothing but impede me. How could my entire race just accept this fate and not try to change it? I want to feel the air on my face whenever there is a breeze!_

 _"_ Everything ok Vara?" She heard Erik say. She nodded, standing up and gaining her composure. She wanted to be calm and clear headed when talking to Davin's dad; she didn't know much about him, and didn't know what he would say or do.

Before they even reached the room they could hear Davin and his dad arguing. Looks like Erik was right; Davin's dad pissed him off. They looked at each other, knowing this couldn't end well. Erik shrugged and opened the door, entering the room with Vara right behind him.

"-Did it for your own damn good! You were too attached to your mother, and had become soft. You can't be soft in this world!" Davin's dad yelled, though Vara noticed his face was surprisingly calm. How someone can yell and be calm at the same time was beyond her.

"And?" Davin responded, and Vara could almost read his mind; he wanted to stand up and get in his dads face. "So that gave you the right to decide my entire life for me? You thing being sent out to slaughter innocent people and children toughened me up?" Davin went to get out of bed, but was quickly stopped by Vara and Erik; well, mostly Erik. Vara didn't have the strength to stop Davin on her own, even in his current state.

"Davin, try to remember you have no legs man." Erik said, his face a statue. Davin glared at them for a second, and then sighed, sitting back.

"It's been awhile Walkman. I see you are doing well." Davin's dad said. Erik looked at him. "Nice of you to notice Harold."

 _His name is Harold huh._ She felt Davin grab her hand, surprising her. She looked down at him, and his face spelled one word; tired. He looked this exhausted just dealing with his father. She felt a pang of anger and decided to take control of the situation herself.

"Davin, it seems you are upset. Do you want me to get everyone out of the room?" She said, very loud and clear, making Erik and Harold turn their heads. Erik smiled; Harold looked wary.

Davin looked up at her and smiled, squeezing her hand. "Everyone except you for right now."

That was all she needed to hear; she turned towards Erik and Harold, crossing her arms. Erik chuckled, putting his hands up in false defeat and leaving the room. Harold, on the other hand, didn't.

"I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced yet. I'm Harold, and as Davin's dad-"

"I know who you are." She said, cutting him off. Her voice was as cold as ice, and he was visibly surprised by it. "You are Davin's father, Harold Kecker. That's good to know. But as of right know, my man just lost his legs, and you seem to only be stressing him out, something he obviously doesn't need right know. So, I will say this one more time; leave."

He gaped, not knowing how to respond, and he made the smart choice; he turned around and left. The instant he was out of ear shot she sighed in relief, plopping down on the bed next to Davin, who gently rubbed her shoulder.

"Well, it was awesome to see you go commander on my dad; kind of hot too." He said, winking. She giggled, placing her hand over his. She didn't know if she would ever get used to how tiny and fragile human hands looked and felt, but she felt happy at the fact that Davin lived; she had all the time in the world to get used to it.

"Yes, but I like it better when you do it; I don't look nearly as threatening as you do."

"You say that, but I've never shut my dad up like that; in fact, no one has since my mother passed away. You woman are scary."

She smiled at that. Her smile disappeared as she remembered that she had to tell Davin about her research. She looked down, playing with his hand, and to no surprise Davin noticed right away.

"While that is cute, it means you have something to say. What is it?" He said, his bright blue eyes staring at her glowing ones. His eyes always felt like they would burn a hole in her mask, making her feel vulnerable.

"I…have not been completely honest with you Dav." She said, trying to find the right way to word this, her heart doing flips in her chest. "My researched…is way past what we have been studying together. To be honest, I'm already in the final stages, and will soon have a finalized product. I have also been testing it on myself, and the results are exactly what I expected; my immune system is already twice as strong as it was before. A couple more doses and my immune system will be just as powerful as yours."

She looked away, not wanting to see his face; scared of what she would see. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. I was scared that if your government knew how close I am to finishing this, they would take you away from me. I'm selfish, and-"She stopped in surprise as she heard Davin chuckle. She finally looked up at him, and saw him smiling at her.

He placed his hand on top of her head. "Silly woman, I figured that out awhile ago. I was just waiting for you to tell me."

She blinked a few times, trying to process this. "You…knew? And you're not mad?"

He shook his head. "Why would I be? You ended up telling me; that's all that matters."

She felt heat rush to her face and placed her hands over her mask, even though he couldn't see her face anyway. "How long have you known?" She asked, feeling like an embarrassed fool.

I figured it out when we visited your family." He said, grinning. "It was hard not to notice when I had a rash over most of my thighs and all you got was the sniffles."

She groaned, feeling more foolish by the second; here she thought she was doing such a good job hiding it when he knew all along and was playing along for her. She lifted her head, smiling a little; this turned out better than she thought it would.

"Well, since you know, time for a test." She said, seeing Davin raise an eyebrow. Then she saw his eyes widen as she started undoing the straps and hoses to her mask. She grunted as the main hose in the back seems stuck, and was surprised when she felt Davin's hands over hers. She looked at him, smiling. "Let me take it off."

A Quarian taking off her mask for someone was the most intimate thing she can do; it exposes her to risk of infection, so a Quarian will only take their mask off for people very close to them. She had never heard of anyone, Quarian or alien, asking to take the mask off for them. She blushed very heavily and nodded, turning her head to make it easier for him. His hands grasped the tube and gently wiggled it out of place, the hose making a loud hissing nose as the air went no where. Then she felt him grasp the mask and gently lift up. The mask was pressurized, so it didn't just pop off, but Davin managed it, and as he lifted she felt the air hit her skin, and almost laughed out loud when it didn't burn or sting. As always, the smells overwhelmed her nose, and the lights hurt her eyes, so she had to sit there until she got used to it.

She felt his hand caress her cheek, and she smiled, feeling electricity from his touch; Skin on skin contact was one of the best feelings in the world to her, and she looked forwards to as much contact with him as she could. She looked at him, breathing a little heavy but healthy.

"It seems to have been working." He said, grinning. "But let's just have the mask off today. And be cautious of course; watch what you touch, wash your hands, generally avoid other peo-"He never got to finish as she laughed, pulling his face towards hers and kissing him hard. To her surprise he kissed her back just as fierce, running his hands through her thick hair and tugging on it, making her his and bit his lip.

They would have gone at it for hours, but she heard a cough from behind her. They both pulled apart and turned around to see his entire team standing at the door, along with Harold and a few nurses. She instantly felt heat rise to her face, and blushed even more when she realized they could see her blush. He hid her face as they all started laughing, except for Harold, Davin even joining along, blushing a little himself.

"Can't even get a little make out time with my woman." Davin said after they had all quieted down. The whole team was looking at Vara, making sure her blush didn't go away.

"So this is what you look like Vara." Adam said, tugging on his stub of a beard. Debra laughed loudly again. "Well damn, you're fucking beautiful Vara. Maybe I need a Quarian woman."

They chuckled, Vara included. They were going to continue when the door opened and Davin's doctor walked in, causing them to go silent. The doctor smiled, stopping at the foot of the bed and looking at his omni-tool.

"Davin Kecker." He said, still looking at the omni-tool. "As of right know you are completely stable. No infections, no internal damage; besides your legs, your as healthy as a horse." He looked up when he said this, and blinked when he saw Vara. She thought he would freak out, but the doctor simply smiled. "When I joined medicine, I always wondered when I'd get to see a Quarian without their mask on. Most doctors are eager to help, but what the Quarian race hadn't figured out for centuries would be impossible for us to do it. It's good to know you are making progress." He looked around. "Any questions so far?

Vara raised her hand. "What do you mean as healthy as a horse? Is that a good thing?"

No one said anything for awhile, and then everyone but her started laughing, making her more confused; what was so special about this 'horse'?

.

.

"Now let's talk about recovery options." The doctor said after everyone explained what a horse was. It still didn't look like she completely understood it, but she got that a horse was an animal. Davin just looked at her face, smiling; it was so odd to see her facial expressions, which were always hidden until now. He blushed a bit, remembering the first facial expression he ever saw on her face; he didn't know how to describe it, so he simply left it as a 'very lustful expression'.

The doctor continued as he was lost in his thoughts. "I now have to ask everyone who isn't family or a significant other to leave the room for the moment."

Davin heard almost his entire team groan. "We just got back." Adam grumbled as they all headed out, Erik winking at Jack on the way out. Davin shook his head, still unable to believe they were watched the entire time; he didn't mind much, but it was still embarrassing.

Davin glared in his father's direction, not understanding why he had to be here; Davin was old enough to make his own decisions, and was in a clear state of mind. He waited to see what the doctor said.

"Well Davin, we have a couple of options available to you. The military has promised to pay for whatever you want, so don't worry about price." He then brought up a couple of files, sending them to Davin's omni-tool. Davin swiped through them, amazed at all the artificial legs he could choose from; he could chose one that would make it look like nothing happened, or go all out and get a specialized leg with designs and such. He had no idea what to choose from, so he asked one question.

"Which of these is suited for combat?"

The doctor was speechless at first, and even Vara had surprised written all over her face; only his dad had no change of expression. He shouldn't; it was him that sent Davin down this path

The doctor coughed. "Well, we have three models. I'll send them to you and answer any questions you have."

The doctor swiped a few pages, and Davin's omni-tool received three more files. One looked like actual legs made of metal; looks good for speed, but it also looked like they could be damage easier than the others, so he went on to the next one.

The next one looked more like Vara's legs than a human; they were curved, and as he read the information, they were amazing for bursts of speed and jumping great heights. He liked this one better than the last, but he wanted to see the third option before making a decision.

He swiped to the last one. Out of the three, these were the least flattering, blocky and robot like. But as he read the information he liked this one the most; they were the most durable, able to handle missiles and stay intact, and he could control the speed they work at. They needed a little more maintenance, but they also were the easiest to fix if broken. He smiled, and sent the third file back to the doctor.

"I want this one."

The doctor bit his lip. "Out of the three, this is the only one made to where you won't be able to feel your legs; kind of like sitting on your legs too long and trying to walk. This is an older model, and I usually don't recommend it, as it also needs a good amount of care and can be short circuited by electricity, unlike the other models."

Before the doctor could continue, Vara touched her wrists to the doctors, and in the blink of an eye had copied the file and was reading it herself. The doctor was going to protest but Davin held a hand up, interested. Her face was cute when she was focused, but that's not why he waited. She was with him, and she was also a genius, so he wanted her input.

After reading all of it, Vara looked up, her face the definition of determination. "I could take care of the maintenance on them. It looks pretty simple; not my specialty, but their isn't anything I can't learn."

Davin smiled at her, but his smile vanished when his father spoke up. "I think the second model would be the better choice. Sure, you would need to come back in to have it repaired and such, but this model is just too old and outdated."

"Glad to know old man." Davin said, and then turned back to the doctor. "My decision remains the same."

Davin's father stood up, and to her surprise he said, "Vara, may I speak to you alone for a moment?"

"You sure as hell can't-"Davin began, but Vara laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, seeing her smile. "I won't be long Dav." And got up, leaving him to speak with his father.

.

.

"You want me to what?" Vara said, appalled at what she was hearing. Harold shifted his feet, looking uncomfortable.

"I don't think Davin is making the right decision here. If you care about him, which is apparent that you do, then you should join me in getting him to go with a different model.

"And what if he still says no?" She replied, getting very pissed and not caring that he could see it. "You have decided his whole life for him so far, and you want me to join you in this? He hated that he didn't get to decide what to do with his life."

"Ya, but-"

"No buts. You listen to me Harold." She said her voice going cold again and her eyes glowing like angry suns. "I will not let you run his life anymore. I'm sticking by him and his decision. It doesn't matter what you think is best for him; he is a grown man, and he can decide what is best for himself."

To her surprise, anger spread across his face. "Do not speak about stuff you know nothing about. I did what needed to be done, what he didn't have the courage to do. And it was the right decision."

"Right decision? He just lost his fucking legs you bosh'tet! How was this the right decision?"  
"He will be fine. He can still join a mercenary group if he wants to. He isn't crippled by any means."

She just gaped at him, not able to understand his thought process. Then he said something that crossed the line.

"The only decision he made by himself was you, and look how that turned out."

Shocked and blinded by anger, she smacked him, hard. A normal human slap would have hurt; with her thicker bones and bigger hands, it was more like being clubbed, sending him down to the ground. She kneeled next to him, trying to glare a hole sending him down to the ground. She kneeled next to him, trying to glare a hole through his head.

"I see that you will only hold him back and do your best to ruin his life. If you care about him at all, you will leave and never come back." With that she walked back into the room, trying to wipe away the tears at the corner of her eyes before Davin saw them, but of course he did.

"What's wrong?" He said, sitting up. She shook her head, smiling as best as she could. "Nothing Dav. We just-"

"Please don't lie to me Vara." He said, cutting her off. "You don't have your mask anymore; I can plainly see that you are upset." He turned towards the doctor. "If I am unable to make any decisions at all, I leave them to Vara and Erik. I don't want my father to have any say in anything. Am I clear?"

The doctor simply nodded. "Good." Davin continued, grabbing Vara's hand and pulling her closer. "Then my decision is final."

The doctor nodded, standing up and smiling. "Alright, I will go set up the surgery. It will be extensive and recovery will be painful, but you two will be fine. I will let you know when anything is determined." With that the doctor left. Vara pressed her face into Davin's chest and he held her, smiling and looking sleepy.

Harold was no where to be found.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Davin fell, catching himself just in time and cursing at the pain. Vara rushed over to help, but he waved her away, slowly getting back up. Trying to ignore the pain as best as he could, he took a deep breath and lifted his new metal leg, shaking slightly as he moved it through the air and set it down. He Let his breath out and repeated the process, going faster until he got to the end of the bars he was using to hold his body up. He turned around, grunted, and went back the other way, blocking out the pain as best he could.

It had been a couple of weeks since he had his new legs attached, and He was recovering faster than the doctors predicted; within a week he could walk without crutches, and now he could even run. The legs were amazing; He couldn't feel anything, and it took awhile to get used to walking on legs you can't feel there, but he forced himself to get used to it. Vara had been with him through all of it, supporting him the best she could. She told him that her immune system was strong enough for her to survive now, but she never took more than her helmet off. Maybe she was so used to the suit that she was having more trouble getting rid of it than she thought.

He finally sat down, having done leg exercises for a few hours straight. His legs only hurt towards the end now; he gave it a week before he was ready to spar and get used to fighting with his new legs. He could try to go back to the military, but it was something he was hesitant to do; so far his entire adult life had been with the military. He looked at Vara and wondered if it was time for him to do something different. Maybe they could go somewhere and become scientist; she was certainly smart enough, and he was willing to learn anything.

But would he be able to adapt to normal life? He was so used to killing to survive, could he get used to not fighting for his life and his country every day? All of these thoughts ran through his head as he went down the road to recovery. He was pulled from his thoughts by Vara opening the car door for him. He grunted, getting in and thanking her. They had Erik drive them back and forth, since Davin couldn't feel the pedals and Vara had no idea how to drive.

"So how did it go today?" Erik asked, grinning as always. Davin only grunted his response, tired and hungry. Vara got in on the other side, pulling her seatbelt on as Erik pulled away from the curb. "I think it went well today. He only fell once." Vara said, smiling. Taking care of Davin had given her a break from her research, and gave her a reason to delay finalizing everything. Davin suspected she still was afraid that he would be taken away from her after she completed everything.

"I'll say it went well when I can do all of the exercises and not have my stumps hurt." Davin said, rubbing what was left of his actual legs, which wasn't much. He felt Vara squeeze his shoulder but was too tired to respond. He felt his pocket, in which was a small box, and in the box was a ring; a ring big enough for the finger of a quarian. He began to feel nervous; the only thing he had ever committed to in his entire life was the military. He didn't know if Vara knew what this ring represented, but he did; it represented his feeling for her, and the fact that he decided to spend the rest of his life with her. She was there before, during, and after he lost his legs, and was the support he needed to pull through it.

This was also a way to ease her mind, to let her know that even after she finishes her research and is hailed as this generation's genius for solving a problem the Quarians have had for many years. She was his, and he didn't plan on letting her go anytime soon. But it was the location they were heading that made him the most nervous.

Vara, being as smart as she is, noticed when Erik didn't turn left at the same road he did every day. "Why didn't you turn? Where are we going?"

Erik smiled; Davin had already told him everything a few days before, and Davin just hoped Erik didn't give it away. He almost sighed out loud when Erik responded, "You're in for a treat today; you get to meet someone very important to Davin. We are almost there; just relax."

Davin saw Vara frown and smiled, glad that he could see her face now. Made having conversations much easier when you can see how the other person is reacting. He grabbed her hand, not trusting himself to talk. Erik turned right and Vara saw a cemetery for the first time. She looked around at the headstones, confused. "What is with all of these stones? Is this an important place on Earth?"

"To some people." Davin answered. When he saw her confused look, he laughed. "This is a cemetery. This is where we bury our loved ones after they die. They get a coffin in the ground and a headstone with their basic information."

She nodded, looking deep in thought. Erik parked and they all got out. Erik helped Davin walk, as his legs were screaming in pain and protest. They walked along the headstones until they got to the one they were looking for. Erik let Davin sit down next to the grave as Vara read the headstone.

"Here lies Haley…Kecker, a loving mother and wife." She covered her mouth, looking at Davin. "Oh Keelah, this is your mothers…"

"Yes." Davin said, smiling sadly. "I visit as much as I can, but I know it's not really her; she passed on a long time ago. But sitting here makes me feel like she is still here in her own way, and it eases my mind." He looked up and saw tears in Vara's eyes; he didn't know what Quarians did with their dead, but it was obviously something else.

"Davin…" She began, but he held his hand up, grunting and cursing as he did his best to get onto one knee.

"I made a promise to my mother that when I did this, she would be there to witness it. This isn't exactly what I meant, but this is the best I can do to keep my promise." He reached into his pocket; his heart dancing in his chest as he pulled the box out. "You might not understand what's going on yet, so I will explain in a way that you can understand. When a human…loves another human, they buy a ring to represent this love and represent that they want to be with the other forever." As he said this, he opened the box, revealing the huge ring with a good sized diamond on the top.

Vara's face slowly went from surprise to shock as she started to realize what he meant. "Davin…does this mean…"

"Yes it does." He answered, smiling. He couldn't see, but he swore he heard Erik crying. "This ring is me asking you to stay by my side for the rest of our lives. If you say yes, I am yours forever. I will never let you go." His nervousness was making him impatient. "So Vara… do you want to be Vara'Vas Kecker?" He didn't know how Quarian names very well, so he winged that last part.

Vara was waving her face, blushing heavily. "I…this is very sudden Dav but….but of course I do! Yes? I say yes right? Oh Keelah, I'm messing this up…"

He grabbed her hand and slid the ring on her finger after it was clear she meant yes, almost cheering when it fit. He stood up, cutting her off by grabbing her face and pulling her into a deep long kiss, never wanting to let go.

"That's my boy." Erik said, sniffling. "Now I want a girlfriend."

.

.

.

Davin took a deep breath, feeling the chilly air enter his lungs as a bead of sweat traveled from his forehead down to his nose and off onto the ground, soundless in its flight to meet the Earth. He let the breath out, smiled, and pushed off, running as fast as he could. He heard Erik laugh as he ran along side him, able to keep up to Davin with his human legs. Davin felt the adrenaline rush as he pushed himself harder, passing Erik and running ahead. Not a day went by where he didn't thank god that he didn't have to be crippled for the rest of his life. As he ran, he decided today was the day to test his limits. As he was running, he leaned over and found the knob on his right leg that controls how much electricity runs through it. Grinning, he turned it all the way to ten, as far as it would go.

His metal legs roared to life like the engine of a car, and he took off, going so fast that everything was a blur; it was like he had tunnel vision. He yelled with joy, not actually realizing how fast he was going. He was about to start slowing down when his metal foot hit something. He didn't feel if of course; he did feel his whole body fly forward and hit the ground hard. But at the speed he was going, he wasn't done yet; he bounced, rolling and bouncing along the ground until he hit a tree hard, bashing his head and seeing starts as his whole body started hurting.

"Davin!" He heard multiple voices yell. He shook his head, sending the starts flying in different directions as he inspected his body for injuries, sighing in relief when there were no broken bones or gashes. He looked over and saw Erik running over, followed by Vara and Debra.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Erik said as he got to the tree, breathing slightly heavy. Davin laughed. "I turned my legs all the way up. Now that was a rush!"

"And it was almost the death of you." Vara said, crossing her arms. "I know you got surgery so that your eyes can process images at a faster rate, but you aren't a super hero; the fastest speed on your legs is just too much, plus it drains you like a cheap battery." She knelt down, looking into his eyes. "Promise me you won't turn it to ten again. Please?"

He frowned, knowing she was right but debating whether to be stubborn. He sighed, deciding it wasn't worth it. "Alright hun, I promise not to do it again."

Vara smiled, victory assured, while Erik made a whipping gesture from behind her back. Davin got up, hugging her and flicking Erik off at the same time, making both of them laugh. It had been almost a year since Davin proposed to Vara, and they were happily married. Her parents even came to the wedding, surprising Davin at how happy they were, even Vara's dad.

Davin made a full recovery, becoming even more of a human weapon thanks to his new legs, which couldn't feel pain and could let him move faster than normal humans. He didn't try to rejoin the military or a mercenary group; instead, he fought professionally, fighting other people with cybernetic limbs to make it fair. He has not lost yet, and had a record of six wins, no losses.

Everything was going well in his life. His marriage was wonderful, making him happier than he had ever been. To his surprise, Vara quit researching the cure to the Quarians weak immune system. When he asked, she simply said the world wasn't ready, and wouldn't budge. He didn't mind; he got to be married to the only Quarian to walk around without a suit. He counted that as a win in his book. Vara decided to study the biology of Earth, and now knew more about the planet then he did.

Erik had been raised a few ranks since Davin's accident, and commanded an entire garrison, which included Davin's entire old team. Davin felt nothing but pride towards his best friend, and was glad that he didn't let Davin's injury bring him down. Davin's life was the best it had ever been, and he was content for it to stay like this for the rest of his life.

But we all know that isn't what happened. It started with a call to his Omni-tool; nothing major, nothing suspicious. Davin heard it go off and opened it up, seeing that the call was from Admiral Hackett. Curious and surprised, as Davin had not seen the Admiral since his wedding, and pressed answer, Hackett's face popping up into view.

"Good morning Admiral Hackett. This is a surprise; what can I help you with?" Davin said, sitting down and setting up his tools. Once a week, Vara checked his legs, making sure everything was going smoothly, and cleaned them if needed. He protested at first, but she wouldn't budge, and he finally gave in.

"Good morning Davin. I'm sorry that I haven't kept in contact recently; a lot has been going on in the galaxy. Right now I need a favor from you and you wife, Vara."

"What do you need me for?" Vara said, hearing them as she entered the room. Davin simply shrugged, turning the projected screen so she could see too. "Well, The Alliance Navy fears that something bad is going to happen. I don't know all the details, which should let you know how serious this is. All I know is they want Vara to finish her research, so that they can give it to the Quarians in hope of an Alliance."

Davin said nothing; Vara was a different story. "They want to basically claim my research as their own and use it to their own ends?"

"No, it would still be you who gets credit." Admiral Hackett said, and then smiled a sly smile. "Of course, they were most likely going to remind them that they funded your research all the way. But you will still receive full credit, protection while you finish it, and enough credits afterwards to make sure you can live the rest of your lives however you want."

"Bribing with money? The military would never do that." Davin said, making Hackett chuckle. Vara looked deep in thought, and then looked at Davin. "Only on two conditions; one, Davin agrees, and two, Davin comes with me. I'd feel safer with him there."

Hackett laughed. "Well, you drive a hard bargain. I can promise the second one." With that they both looked at Davin, the decision up to him. He sighed, shrugging.

"Sure, why not. But I want a ship."

.

.

"I can not believe they actually gave Davin a fully functional and new ship." Erik said as he walked them off of Davin's ship, the new White Hawk. "They must really want this research completed."

Vara nodded, not believing the ship part either, although she liked the ship. "Yes, and that worries me. Why is it important now?"

Erik shrugged. "Could be war on the horizon."

"Or the Reapers are coming." Davin said darkly. Erik laughed in response. "Reapers? You believe that crap?"

"Crap?" Davin said, stopping. "Commander Shepard, the legend himself, warned us about the Reapers. Anything that can make that man worry is something I worry about."

Erik shrugged, not wanting to argue, and walked them up to a two-story building. "This will be your new home until you are done. We will be posted on the first floor at all times, with one of us on the second floor at all times."

"And who is we?" Vara said, seeing Erik and Davin grin. They always kept the surprises from her, and it frustrated her sometimes. "Take a wild guess." Davin said, opening the door and strolling in as if he owned the place. He was almost knocked over as Debra pulled him into a bear hug, the rest of the group joining in on the assault.

"I can't breathe!" Davin said, although he was completely ignored. Vara began to laugh until she saw Debra let go of Davin and turn towards her. Before she could escape, Debra trapped her too, squeezing what felt like her life out of her, only a small squeak escaping her as she was nearly crushed.

"It's been too long!" Adam said, and she saw Jacob nod in agreement. Bennie for once wasn't giggling, and even Levie was smiling. Vara smiled back, missing all of them dearly. "It has. I'm happy to see all of you."

"How did you get the higher ups to agree to this?" Davin said, grinning himself. Erik shrugged. "Ask Admiral Hackett. He's the one who pulled all of the strings." Davin shook his head, and even Vara wasn't surprised. Hackett had a way of getting what he wanted. _Sly old fox_

"Well, I'm going to take Davin on a tour of this place. Han, could you show Vara where all of her research so far was placed, as well as her new lab? I'm sure she wants to see where she will be working for awhile." Erik said, grabbing Davin's arm before he could protest.

Han nodded, gesturing for Vara to follow him. Vara complied, curious as to what her new lab looked like, and Erik and Davin left, leaving the others to talk amongst themselves. They were all so happy that they weren't being quiet at all, or paying attention. If they were, Erik and Davin might have noticed a pair of people standing outside, looking at the building. They might have noticed that they had Cerberus sigils on their chest. They might have noticed that they were very well armed, or that they were talking into their earpieces, relaying all the information they had just collected. If they had noticed any of this, things might have been very different.

Davin would regret this for the rest of his life.

.

"Whoa." was all Vara could think to say as she as she looked upon her new lab. It was even bigger than the last one, and had everything she could ask for and more. He gawked at it like Erik gawked at woman until Han chuckled, snapping her out of it. Blushing, and knowing they could see that now, she said, "Lets move on to my research."

Han nodded, and they went into the next room. It had a couple of high tech cabinets. Vara started looking through them, passing all of her notes, looking for something specific. She sighed in relief when she saw it; a brown bag. She took it out and set it on the table. She noticed Han was looking at it, and as Davin called it, the nerd in her activated.

"Han, do you want to see the main ingredient to all of my research?"

He nodded. She opened the bag, and his face grew confused as all he saw was weird small green crystals. "What are they?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I bought them off of a scientist who had just gone on an expedition to an unknown planet. The planet was vicious, and most of the people that went with him died, but they found amazing discoveries, this included. They weren't Quarians though, and couldn't find a use for this. I did."

She took a piece out, and held it up to the light. She swore he went 'ooo' as the light easily passed through the crystal as if it was made of paper. "These are very fragile, and will dissolve if placed in any liquid. As I had it under a microscope, I noticed that it killed most bacteria it came in contact with. So I started out placing common viruses and a bacterium's that would kill a Quarian of they caught it, and was amazed when the crystal killed all of them."

She placed it back into the bag, grinning like a fool; she loved explaining her findings. "I then needed to test if it would harm our bodies, such as blood cells, skin cells, etc. So I placed not only some of my blood in skin with it, but Davin's as well. Before my eyes I saw that it not only didn't attack the cells, it enveloped them, making them stronger. I then decided to do a dangerous test, one I never told Davin about until later; I ingested it myself."

Han's face was a mix of curiosity and surprise. She did her best not to laugh, continuing. "Yes, I put a crystal in my mouth and it dissolved quickly. The effects were almost immediate; I got a very intoxicating feeling; my whole mind and body went numb, and I couldn't think straight. My theory for this is that it overloads our body at first, and that's how our body reacts to it. Could be a lot worse, so I didn't complain. It was what I saw afterwards that amazed me."

Han leaned forward a bit, fully enveloped in what she had to say now. _I should become a politician._ "I drew some more of my blood and mixed it with the Viruses and bacteria. To my amazement, instead of just dying like they always did, the blood cells not only resisted, they repelled the virus for awhile like a shield. Eventually, the virus and bacteria did win, but it wasn't as quick and deadly as before, and that alone is a huge leap compared to before."

She sighed, reliving the memory of this in her head. She smiled to herself. "It was amazing to see. On top of that-"

She got cut off by a loud bang from downstairs that actually shook the floor, followed by more bangs and screaming. She froze, but Han moved instantly, running to the door and shutting it behind him. She regained her composure, and began pacing back and forth, her mind racing. _Are we being attacked? It can't be a coincidence that this happened while Davin and Erik were away. Dammit, they must be after my research! It has to be Cerberus._

She looked around. _They can have the notes, but they can't get their hands on the crystals. I have to hide them._ She looked until she found a vent. She heard the sounds getting closer, and went as fast as she could, adrenaline helping her rip the vent off. But this was a decoy; she then placed her actually notes in the vent and put the cover back on. Anyone looking at it could tell it had been tampered with, and she hoped that this would lead them to think everything she had was there. She then went to one of the high tech containers, pressed the password only Davin and her knew, and opened it, placing it inside the container and shutting it.

 _Now to find a way to let Davin know where it is without letting anyone else know. But how?_ She jumped as she heard a bang on the door. _Running out of time._ She did the first thing she thought of; she grabbed a marker and drew a bird above it, the same bird Davin found when they first met, where her friend hid the research then. _Déjà vu_

The banging on the door increased; she knew it was only a matter of time until they either hacked their way in or just blew the door down. She looked from a monitor to her omni-tool and decided to leave Davin her last message. She felt herself crying as she set it all up, and did her best to wipe away the tears before pressing record.

"Davin…I wish I had more time...but I can't leave without saying goodbye." She spoke; she said everything she thought she needed to say. She had just pressed end when the door opened, and Vara turned around to face her death head on.

Her last thought was; _I just wish I had more time…_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"What was so important that you couldn't wait to drag me out of the house?" Davin said, wanting to chill with his friends who he has not seen in awhile. Erik didn't respond at first, which wasn't like him. Davin raised an eyebrow at him and stopped. "What is it Erik?"

Erik finally met his eyes. "something feels...off man. I don't know, but all of this is very sudden and convenient."

Davin was only more confused. "Convenient? How so?"

"Well, out of the blue, I get the order to head here with only my original unit to protect Vara during her research, which she had stopped awhile ago. And the order didn't come from Admiral Hackett. We get sent to a place with a small population who live far away from each other, far enough that we are basically on our own. Everything about this seems like a trap to me, but our own government wouldn't betray us like that...right?"

Davin blinked, surprised that he didn't come to this conclusion on his own. It made sense. "That would explain why I got my ship." then the more Davin thought about it, the less he liked it.

"We need to get back. Now." Davin said, seeing Erik nod. They had walked a far distance, absorbing the sights. As they were walking back, the sounds of gunfire finally traveled to their ears, and they both realized that they were right, and started running. Even then, it took them about twelve minutes to get there. Davin didn't hesitate as they approached the house; He opened the door and rushed in, pistol out. The sight he received would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

He fell to his knees, seeing all of his closest friends dead, their bodies thrown around like they were dolls. Debra sat against a wall, a whole portion of her head sprayed across the wall behind her. Adam was splayed out, missing most of his limbs and his chest. Jacob was slumped over a table, his blood slowly dripping off and pooling onto the ground. Levie was on her knees, her gun still smoking, chest filled with bullets. Bennie had no head, as well as most of his upper chest. Their were multiple enemies on the floor, showing that his old team went down with a fight.

Davin's mind went numb, unable to process how his team could end up like this. They were one of the best unit their was, never failing a mission and always watching each others back. Whoever did this had to have complete surprise and be just as trained. As his looked at the dead enemies, he saw the Cerberus sigil on their combat armor. _Erik was right, we were completely set up. Not only that, they waited for us to leave the house. This is my fault._

Davin forced himself up. He knew what he had to do next, but he dreaded it with every fiber of his being. He slowly walked towards the hallway, hearing Erik behind him, crying but watching his back. As Davin turned the corner, he saw two more Cerberus dead bodies on the floor, and Han dead against the wall, a bullet placed perfectly between his eyes, a trail of blood going down his face. Davin closed his eyes, trying to unsee this and failing. He saw the door to Hans right open, and knew their was only one person left they hadn't seen. _She can't be. They took her prisoner, and I'll be able to rescue her._ He started shaking as he slowly walked towards the door, turning the corner and entering the room.

His mind went blank as he walked into the room and saw her on the floor. The love of his life, his everything. He walked over and fell to his knees, his vision blurring as tears began to well up in his eyes.

"Why?" he asked no one, knowing he would never get an answer. "Why? WHY! What did she do? She was innocent! She was brilliant! She was such an amazing person, AND SHE WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM ME! SOMEONE, ANYONE, ANSWER ME! HOW IS THIS FAIR! ALL SHE WANTED TO DO WAS HELP HER RACE. that's it..."

He ran out of words then and placed his head on the floor, crying and screaming, pounding his fist against the floor. Erik just looked at his best friend, crying as well, knowing that Davin just lost the only thing he held precious in the universe, and there was nothing Erik could do to help. He walked over to Davin, kneeled next to him, and placed his hand on Davin's back, crying with him for what felt like hours.

Davin's head began to clear now, and he sat up, wiping the tears away. He took off his trench coat, the one he had always worn, and placed it over her; it was too painful to look at her like this. He then stood up and looked around. He thought most of the place would be ransacked, but all he saw was the vent cover off. He looked around until he found the terminal. It had a red light, indicating a message. He slowly walked over to it, feeling numb again as he pushed the hologram buttons, pulling up the message. It was a video. Shaking, he opened it.

The video instantly began playing, and it showed Vara, looking scared. He could hear banging on the door in the video, and was amazed she kept her composure long enough to do this. _Such an amazing woman..._

She began speaking. "Davin...I wish I had more time...but I can't leave without saying goodbye." He felt his tears come back as he saw tears in her eyes as well. She continued.

"They must be after my research. That's the only reason I can think of. If anyone survived this, tell them I'm sorry. If I had known they would die for this, I would never have agreed to come here." She closed her eyes, regaining her composure before going on. "This is beyond unfair. We were going to live out our life together. But that isn't going to happen. In going to be honest Dav; I'm scared. But I have to tell you two things before they break in here."

He wanted to put his hands through the screen and hold her. He went to look away, but Erik stopped him, giving him a look that said everything he needed to say. 'She made this for you. You better watch it.'

"First, they might find my research, but they won't find the materials needed to complete it. I hid it somewhere. I left the symbol we looked for when we first met there."

 _She must mean that bird symbol._ He thought as she was finishing. "Second...Davin, you are my first and only love. I don't regret a single moment with you. Please, try not to live out your life for revenge. I want you to smile whenever you remember me. I love you...and I..." She finally wasn't able to keep her tears in, and the recording ended.

If he felt sad before, now he felt like someone took his heart and threw it in a wood chipper. His tears flowed unstopped as he roared, about to destroy the terminal. He stopped himself just in time; these were his wife's last words. Fumbling with his wrist, he opened his omni-tool and downloaded the video; he would keep it.

'I want you to smile whenever you think of me.' These words stuck on his mind as he got up and looked around, seeing the symbol of a bird on the wall. He went to it and saw it was a locked container. It was locked, and needed a code to unlock. Without hesitation he entered 'Dav', and it popped open with a hiss. He looked inside, and saw only a bag. Confused, he picked it up, looking inside and seeing what looked like a bunch of green crystals.

"What is it?" He heard Erik ask. Davin got up and grasped his best friends shoulder. "I don't know, but she considered it more valuable than her research and notes, so I will too." He then looked Erik in the eyes, saw he was broken too, and pulled him into a hug, trying to express all of their pain into that hug. When he let go, he put the bag back into the container, locking it again and walking out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Erik said, trying to keep up. Davin looked until he found his sword and strapped it to his hip, looking at Erik. "I'm going to see if their is any clue as to where they went, or even if any of them are still in the area."

"They would be pretty stupid to stick around." Erik said, pressing keys on his omni-tool. Davin said nothing, walking out of the house. His heart felt as heavy as metal, but his anger drove him on. When he got a few steps he started sprinting towards town; if any of them were stupid enough to still be here, he would find them. With his bionic legs, it didn't take him long to get to the town. He didn't even bother to see of Erik was behind him.

He stopped as he approached the market place. He was about to go to every vender, every building, when he saw what he was looking for. 2 soldiers, wearing Cerberus armor, were at a stand, looking at items. Davin's face became a face of pure rage as he calmly approached, standing right behind them, silently pulling his knife out.

"Should I get the black or red one?" one of them said to the other, oblivious to the storm of rage behind them. They were looking at helmets, a black one and a red one. _They just murdered my wife and friends, and they decided to stop and buy a fucking helmet before leaving._

"The red will match your armor." Davin said. They didn't even turn around, but the one that spoke scoffed. "buddy, my armor is white. How would it possibly-"

He got his answer as Davin rammed the knife into his throat, rippling it out with as much tenacity as he could muster, sending blood spraying everywhere, covering both of their armor in blood. The soldier fell to the ground dead as the other one fell to the ground, his eyes wide with terror.

"Looks like it would match now." Davin said, his voice low and dangerous as he kneeled down next to the terrified soldier, placing the tip of his knife against the fools nose and hearing the stall vender run away as fast as he could. w"you-your Davin Kecker." the soldier said, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Correct. So you should know how fucked you are." Davin responded, barely able to stop himself from stabbing the man multiple times. "Now, this can be easy, or this can be hard. I will let you decide. Who betrayed us?"

"I-I don't kn-" he began, but Davin didn't like the answer, so he flipped the knife, slammed it into the man's knee and pushed it, literally popping off the man's kneecap. The man began to scream but Davin placed the knife up to his face, silencing him

"let's try again. Who betrayed us?" the man looked to scared to answer at first, but gave in. "I honestly don't know, but I can tell you who does. Just please don't hurt me anymore."

 _Did my wife say the same words to you assholes I wonder?_ "Talk and I will leave you be." He said, lying. The man believed him and visibly relaxed, only pissing Davin off more. "Our commander is the one that received the orders. Here, I will give you the coordinates." With that he opened his omni-tool and sent the location of the place to Davin. Davin placed the knife up to his throat, actually cutting him slightly. "You wouldn't be lying now would you?"

"No! I swear!" the man screamed, and Davin smelled the smell of urine as the man pissed himself. _Pathetic!_ But Davin lowered the knife, giving the man false hope. "You're going to let me live?" the man said, looking hopeful. Davin heard Erik show up just as he killed the man's hope.

"Hell no." Davin said, seeing the man's expression change to terror as Davin's rage exploded. He stabbed the man, pulled out the knife, stabbed him again, pulled out the knife, and repeated this, stabbing the man over and over and over again, releasing all of his anger onto this stupid bastard. He only stopped when he was too tired to continue, the man dying long ago, the knife sticking out of his chest. Davin stood up, panting, covered in blood as he turned to Erik, so said nothing, sharing his feelings.

"I got the location of the place they are heading."

Erik looked at him and said, "What are we waiting for?"

.

.

At the Cerberus base, the leader of the unit that killed Vara and the rest sat at a table, drinking and laughing alongside his comrades. "I love killing alien scum. Sucks about the other humans though; they were well trained. They shouldn't have been protecting that suit rat. Serves them right."

The rest of soldiers laughed at this, drinking as much and as fast as they could, now knowing the shit storm that was coming down on them. The leader of this unit, a ugly and nasty human being named Joe, hated all aliens, and enjoyed killing the Quarian. He heard a beeping in his ear and frowned, pressing his fingers into his earpiece.

"I just got off from a mission. What is it?"

"Just received a docking request. Says they're part of your unit."

"Took those slow bastards long enough. Has to be Dan and Austin, let them dock." He pulled his fingers away, shaking his head. He warned them that he'd leave them there; too much heat. He sure didn't want to meet the aliens husband, that's for sure.

They continued drinking and gambling for a few more minutes, until Joe realized he had to piss. "I'll be back boy, just gotta drain the well." He said, getting up and stumbling towards the bathroom. He relieved himself and stumbled back, almost falling into one of the urinals. _Gotta stop drinking...tomorrow._

The first thing he noticed as he left the bathroom was how quiet it was. He assumed they had all gotten to drunk and went off elsewhere, so Joe decided to go to the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat. Of he had been sober, or paying attention at all, he might have noticed a smear of blood on the table, or someone's legs sticking out from under the table. When he opened the door to the cafeteria, he might have noticed that their was one of his comrades reaching for him from the shadows, covered in blood. But Joe just blindly walked forward as a sword plunged into his comrades back, killing him.

Joe fell on the way to the counter. When he finally got there, he frowned as he saw no one there to help him. "Hey, anyone here!" He yelled, pounding on the table. When no one answered, he gave up, grumbling and heading towards the main lobby. "Where the hell is every-" Joe began to yell as the door opened, but the words froze in his throat as the door opened and he saw what had happened to everyone.

Everyone was dead. It was a massacre; bodies everywhere, and only a few were not in pieces. Blood was everywhere, splashed along the walls and pooling in the floor. Even drunk, Joe realized what he was looking at as he fell back, landing hard on his ass, his eyes wide with fear. He began to back up, but his back his something. Joe slowly turned around to see two people standing there, one holding a sword, both of them covered in blood. Joe's eyes met the eye of the one holding the sword, blue eyes glowing as if they were on fire, and he realized it was Davin Kecker, the husband of the alien he killed.

"You must be Joe, the one who killed my wife." Davin said, his eyes never leaving Joes eyes. Joe was to scared to move, and like his comrade who Davin found before, he pissed himself.

Davin's face showed disgust as he kneeled down next to Joe. "Now I'm going to ask you the same question I've asked some of your friends here. Your answer will determine if you die slowly or quickly." Davin leaned in, getting as close to Joe as possible, burning the ugly bastardy face into his memory. "Who betrayed us and told you where we were?"

Joe said nothing at first, then to both Davin and Erik's surprise, Joe spat at Davin's face and said, "I won't tell you shit alien lover. You should have died along with that suit rat."

Davin reached up slowly, wiping the spit off of his face and wiping it on the floor. Joe felt proud of himself until Davin looked at him again, making his blood run cold.

Davin was smiling, his eyes looking like they would burst into blue flames. "I was hoping you'd say something like that." Joe's fear returned and he screamed as Davin grabbed him by his armor and dragged him into the cafeteria, the door closing behind him. Erik stayed behind, not wanting to disturb Davin's revenge. Only Davin knows what happened in that room on that day; the walls were sound proof, so Erik didn't see or hear anything. He patiently waited until Davin walked out of the room, smile gone.

Davin simply walked, Erik following him. They arrived in a big room that Erik recognized as a room for meetings. Davin pressed a few buttons, and the room starting humming. After a few seconds, a hologram of a man appeared in front of them, smoking a cigarette with weird blue designs in his eyes. Erik didn't know who it was until Davin said his name.

"So you are the Illusive man. I was hoping you would be here, but I knew better."

The illusive man took a drag off his cigarette and let it out slowly, his eyes locked on Davin. "Davin Kecker. I admit, I never thought I'd receive a call from you like this. I assume this relates to the research on Quarian biology and immune system I received. I should have sent someone more capable. A mid-"

Davin waved his hand, cutting the illusive man off. "I could care less. Here's the deal; If you tell me who in my government betrayed me, I will cease attacking and killing your soldiers."

The illusive man pondered this. "And if I were to refuse?"

Davin didn't hesitate. "Then I will hunt down everyone connected to Cerberus, one by one, until I get my answer. I will kill all of you if I need to."

The illusive man took another drag, exhaling and smiling. "You are quite fearsome Davin Kecker. Alright, just so you won't be a throw in my side, I will tell you who gave me all the information I needed. It was a soldier named Derrick Grimer who sent over everything. Now I bid you farewell and good luck Davin Kecker" With that the hologram disappeared, leaving Erik and Davin in stunned silence.

Derrick? I mean, I never like the guy, but to set us up? What did we ever do to that little fucktard." Erik said, getting mad. Davin took a deep breath and sat down, tired. He got a name; Derrick Grimer. He had no idea why Derrick would hate them so much to try and have then killed, but it didn't matter.

Derrick Grimer wouldn't survive much longer for it to matter.

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"Are you sure about this?" Erik said as they leaned against the wall of the a bunker for alliance soldiers; this one was for Derrick's unit in particular. Davin had thought long and hard about it, and decided that his revenge would end after Derrick; after he killed Derrick, Davin would disappear. He would ask Erik if he wanted to join him, but he would go either way. He didn't know what he would do, but it didn't matter.

Without Vara, nothing mattered.

"You know the Alliance will see this as murder and try to arrest you. They will hunt you for the rest of your life." Erik said, his face serious. Davin nodded; he fully understood what he was about to do. He could go to the higher ups, tell them, and hope they did something about it; or he could kill the bastard now and end it. The latter sounded much quicker.

Erik sighed, then activated his shield. "Well, best friends for life right man?"

Davin smiled a sad smile, holding out his fist. His best friend bashed his fist against Davin's, and they opened the door, walking into the bunker, shields on and armed to the teeth.

Most of Derrick's unit was sleeping at this time, with a few playing poker at a table. They looked up, seeing Davin and Erik. "What the fu-" was all one soldier was able to say before Erik opened fire, spraying the soldiers at the table with bullets, killing all of them before they could react. The other soldiers scrambled to react, but Davin and Erik didn't let up; Davin rushed forward, using the speed of his bionic legs to reach the sleepy soldiers and cut them down before they became a threat. One managed to get a gun up, but Davin jumped up, living the gun out if his hand and striking down with his sword right after, hitting the poor bastard in the throat and ripping his sword out, blood showering the wall.

He saw a bullet bounce off of his shield as the soldiers finally started firing back. Erik had pushed the table over and was using it as cover, but Davin roared, rushing at them so fast to startled them, and they screamed as he cut them down. He turned around and saw Erik kill the last soldier. Erik looked at Davin, smiling and panting. "What a rush. I didn't see Derrick; did you kill him?"

"No, I'm right here." Both Davin and Erik heard before the sound of a gunshot. Davin watched in horror as the bullet went right through Erik shield, hitting him in the head. Erik fell to the ground, dead before he landed. Davin swung around to see Derrick with 2 more soldiers, grinning. _And now I've lost my best friend._

It was too much; Davin roared, rushing at them. The soldiers fired at him, but Derrick ran. Davin's shield broke just as he reached them, but it was enough; he swung, cutting ones head clean off his shoulders. The other fired, but Davin ducked and swung, cutting one of his legs. As the soldier fell, screaming, Davin pulled out his pistol with his left hand and put a bullet in the soldiers head, ending it.

Davin walked outside, seeing Derrick pointing a rifle at him. "Stop right their, of you get a bullet Davin."

"Davin glared at Derrick, putting as much hate into the look as he could. "You piece of shit. What the hell did I do to you? You got my wife killed!"

Derrick laughed. "What did you do to me? You took everything from me. We were both in the war or roses, yet you got more credit than I did. I've completed just as many missions as you, but no one cares. You've lost your damn legs and you still get more notice from the admirals than I do."

Davin blinked, not believing what he just heard. "Are...you serious? You took everything from me...because of that childish bullshit?"

"Fuck you Davin!" Derrick yelled, firing. But the instant he responded, Davin had already began moving, the bullet missing easily. He ran at Derrick, faster than Derrick could keep up, and sunk his sword into Derrick's chest, all the way to the hilt. Derrick dropped his gun as blood gurgled from his mouth, falling to his knees. Davin ripped out the sword, and yelled at the top of his lungs until his chest hurt. When he was finished, panting, he saw Derrick was just starting to slip away.

"Your lucky; you deserve a far slower and more painful death. Burn in hell." Davin said, making sure these were the last words Derrick heard before he fell over, dead. Davin fell to his knees, crying. He should have listened to Vara; his drive for revenge got his best friend killed, and for what? Killing Derrick didn't bring her back, it didn't do anything except make him feel empty inside. He was broken.

He hears footsteps and voices approaching him. He didn't care; he just sat there on his knees until he heard a familiar voice

"Davin Kecker. Mind explaining this to me?" Admiral Hackett said, frowning at what he was seeing. Davin slowly turned his head, debating whether to bother responding or not. "he took away my wife and friends; I took away his life. A fair trade...right?"

Admiral Hackett looked deep in thought. Davin didn't care; just put a bullet in his head and end it. The he could see Vara again. He lowered his head, accepting death, but was surprised at what Admiral Hackett said.

"We did receive intelligence that Derrick was leaking information." Hackett walked over to Davin and put an arm on his shoulder. "Looks like you took care of a problem for us. I thank you, and I grieve for your lost my friend. You are free to go; I hope you end up recovering from this." With that Hackett walked off with his soldiers, leaving Davin alone and confused. Davin slowly got up and walked away, disappearing like he said he would.

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Shepard heard a voice he had never heard before as he entered Davin's room. He probably should have knocked, but he felt that Davin had other things on his mind, and wanted to see if maybe Davin wanted to talk about it. He entered and saw Davin watching a video. This threw Shepard off at first, until he heard the last words of the video. "I want you to smile whenever you remember me. I love you." and the video ended. He could see Davin crying, but he was smiling as well. He looked at Davin. "This was the one promise I could keep to her. I will always smile whenever I think of her."

Shepard sat next to Davin, placing a hand on his shoulder. "In that way you're a stronger man than I am. I don't know what I'd do if Tali was killed..."

Davin said nothing at first, then said, "After I found her, I went on a killing spree. I went to a Cerberus based and killed everyone there, including the man who took her life. Then, after getting the info from the illusive man, I went to the base and killed Derrick, the man who betrayed me, and his entire unit." He paused for a second, and Shepard listened, realizing he probably has never talked about this.

"Derrick killed my best friend that night. In one day, I lost everyone close to me, and I was defeated. If I had listened to her, Erik would be alive, and who knows what would have happened then. I will never know. But I do know this; Samwell is a nasty little man, and things will only get worse if he is in charge of the Alliance Navy."

Davin looked Shepard dead in the eyes, his blue eyes on fire. "I will help you beat him. This is the least I can do for Erik and Vara. And thank you for taking me along, even though when we met I would have gladly died."

Shepard grunted. "Ya, and now I've got you into a bigger mess."

Davin waved this away. "I would have gotten myself in trouble sooner or later. Better to be with the world's greatest soldier and his amazing team than by myself."

Shepard smiled, smacking Davina shoulder. "I should be thanking you. You healed Tali's immune system, and saved out asses more than once. You are a valuable asset to this team, but we are more than a team; we are a family, and not even the Alliance Navy can stand against us." With that Shepard got up and walked to the door. He turned and smiled, leaving Davin alone with a tear in his eye, both of them ready for what is to come.

 **End**

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 _Authors note: Thank you for reading The Cure! I will write one more with both Davin and Shepard. I hope you enjoyed it!_


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